


Like Oxygen

by sevansa



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Addiction, BAMF Klaus Hargreeves, Brotherly Bonding, Drug Use, Gen, Implied/Referenced Prostitution, Insecurity, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, No character bashing, Superpowers, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2020-05-07 20:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 39,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19216726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevansa/pseuds/sevansa
Summary: Klaus's powers may be a bit more extensive than just seeing the dead, he's not sure what to do about that.ORThe one where Klaus's power is not ghosts, but souls and that makes a hell of a difference.





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> So! Healer!Klaus fic, anyone?  
> enjoy!

He barely notices at first, 'cause it starts so small. 

It's so cold and he's so fucked on E to bother with a shelter. 

Ben is nagging at him, hovering around like a particularly annoying fly, but Klaus is in such a good mood not even his dead brother's constipated face is enough to dampen his mood. 

He shoves his good-bye hand at Ben and slurs out " Shhh Ben," he giggles " You're killing my buzz, mon amie," 

"Klaus-" Ben starts to talk but the words are hazy and it's so hard to follow the plot yanno? His legs are getting really tired, he has to sit down, and right now, there is a very inviting corner wedged between a wall and dumpster that's calling his name. He stumbles his way there and slides down, the floaty feeling intensifies for a second before evening out. 

Klaus lets out another giggle. 

"You'll freeze, Klaus, come on get up." Ben is still talking, and god people say  _ he's  _ the annoying one. 

"Shhhhh" he slurs again, closing his eyes and tries to enjoy the last of his high, he's out of pills and out of money, sobriety in a few hours, will not be fun. 

It is really cold. 

He must have said that out loud because Ben is crouching through him, nose to nose. Klaus scrunches his up. 

"Get off Benny-boy, you're cute and all but let's leave the incest vibe to One and Three." 

"Get up. You'll die." Ben says, uncharacteristically serious, the snow going through his incorporeal body looks fuzzy. 

Klaus rolls his eyes, "Not all of us could be so lucky, bro." He mutters and slides down further curling up in a ball, exhaustion and cold are pulling at his consciousness and all around him is sweet sweet oblivion. 

Klaus sleeps, the sky keeps snowing.

He wakes up. 

Surprise, surprise. 

And it must  _ be  _ a surprise, because Ben looks both shocked and relieved, he's not sure if ghosts can cry, but Ben looks like he wants to cry a bit. 

Klaus feels shitty and looking around, he's surprised he's not already dead, the alley is blanketed in snow and he is not dressed appropriately for the weather, at all. Leather pants and faux fur are really not that cold resistant. he's shivering and sweating and is not sure if it's the cold or the withdrawal, either way he wants to curl up and die. 

He lets out a groan. 

"Klaus!" Ben says hands outstretched as if wanting to touch, "You're okay! Fuck, don't  _ do  _ that." He says, sounding wrecked.

"'M sorry." Klaus groans out, and he is, he is sorry, shit he could have frozen to death, could have gotten pneumonia or lost his extremities,  he could have died and left his brother alone, Ben was dead though, what would happen to Ben when he dies? 

"C'mon Klaus, get up, we need to get you somewhere warm." 

Klaus nods, shaky and exhausted and so fucking grateful he's not dead, he feels dizzy with it, or maybe it's the drugs. Who the fuck cares anyway.

He tries not to think about being alive when he really really shouldn't be. 

**

Ben says, it might be an extension to his power, that he can’t die, which yeah cool, but they have no way of actually testing the theory without going around dying and say what you want about Klaus, but he is not suicidal, at least not in an overt sense. 

He’s kind of glad that he didn’t know about that supposed power when he still lived at the Academy, the very thought of what dear old daddy might have done to him makes him shudder. 

So, with no way to prove it, his undeath goes on the back-burner, Klaus is  _ busy,  _ there are so many clubs he needs to visit, money to steal, objects to pawn, food when he remembers, life on the street is no cake walk baby. 

The second time it happens, it is so overt it might as well be a slap to the face. 

He’s in some rave or the other after a lovely stint in rehab, Klaus is  _ this _ close to scoring some good shit with a promise of some friendly favours when the screaming starts. 

He ignores it and keeps dancing with the John, thinking the ghosts have gone a little rowdy, but when actual humans start running, now that’s real. 

Obviously , he goes to investigate, leaving the John with a jaunty wave, he can pick another one later. He’s curious, sue him. 

Ben is hovering silently behind him so he assumes that his brother agrees with his life choices, lovely to be on the same page, brotha!

He staggers towards the source of screams when he sees them, a kid is clutching at his bleeding stomach and another is holding a bloody shank, he looks horrified at himself, at the situation, frozen in place, it’s kind of obvious that he had not meant for the situation to go that far. 

“Yeesh that sucks.” he says to Ben, who nods, frowning.

He moves closer to them, and it is then that he realizes he knows the kid.

“Shit, shit, Ben that’s Matty.”  He says, pointing , trying to clutch at Ben’s arm only for his hand to go through, he ignores the disappointment and scrambles toward the injured kid, hands hovering uselessly before finally settling over the wound, trying to keep pressure on it. “Hey! Hey Matty, you know that’s not what I meant when I said you need to spice up your life, man.” He says with false cheer, tone wavering at the end. 

Matty lets out a huff of laughter that devolves into a groan. “N- nice to uh- see you- Klaus.” 

Klaus laughs, and if it sounds a bit deranged, no one could really blame him, what with the body bleeding out under him and all. 

“Shit, someone call 911” he says looking around at the gathered crowd and he thinks his words must have been lost in the boom of the music but a woman waves her phone at him and he assumes that means that she already did. 

Ben urges him to focus of Matty. “Talk to him.” he says. 

“So Matty what brings you here, didn’t think it was your scene.” he’s babbling a bit but Matty’s eyes are getting unfocused and his breathing is getting more ragged by the second, a desperate sort of gasping that Klaus has learned means a lung was damaged, and shit this is not good. 

 

“No no no no you can’t die, you will not die.  _ You will not die.” _ he keeps up the stream of words but Matty is stilling, the desperate clawing becomes weaker and Klaus knows what the means.

He’s blinking away tears, still putting pressure on a wound that is no longer spurting out when the paramedics arrive, the woman shoulders him and goes to work on Matty, movement practiced and sure and then she stops. 

just . stops. 

And he knows, just like that, Matty is dead. 

He takes in a ragged breath, that is more of a sob when the paramedic feels Matty’s pulse, she frowns and Klaus is confused, kid’s dead right?  he’s biting at his thumb, a terrible, terrible habit that he just can’t shake, Ben a comforting cold presence at his side, and he’s worried, he’s not used to being that worried, he doesn’t like that emotion, it’s icky. 

The paramedic stops and she looks around in confusion, she’s holding the bloody, ruined shirt in one hand, moving it this way and that, and looking at the skin in confusion.

“You said it’s a stab injury.” she says, and Klaus is moving forward, terrified and unbearably tired.

“Yeah, yeah he was st-” and Klaus stops, because in front of him, Matty is breathing, he is  _ breathing, _ and his stomach is  _ drenched  _ in blood, but under all that, the skin is unharmed. 

“Huh.” Klaus says blankly. 

He looks at Ben, who’s just as confused as him, so that means he’s not seeing things. And ain’t that a joke? Looking at your dead brother to confirm you’re not seeing things, HA!

Klaus gets the hell out of dodge. 

He’s stumbling around with blood drying on his hands, wondering where the hell he’s supposed to spend the night, he was supposed to pick someone up, stay over, get some nice buzz going on, instead he’s freezing his ass off, sober af, and just downright miserable.

“Are we not going to discuss what happened in there?” That’s Ben, lovely Ben doesn’t know when to shut the fuck up. 

“Obviously, Matty has some sort of latent healing powers.” Klaus drawls out. A woman takes one look at him and crosses to the other side, Klaus gives her the finger, she doesn’t notice, what a shame. 

“Your eyes were glowing.” 

Klaus stops and turns to face his brother fully. “Trick of light, baby.” he shrugs, walking backwards. 

“Klaus.” 

Klaus rolls his eyes, hiking his shoulders up and ignores Ben as much as he can. 

Klaus does not want to think about whatever it was that happened at the club, about what it might imply, he does not want more powers, what he wants is to get high and find a nice warm place to curl up- both things which seem out of reach for now.

He grumbles out something intelligible and ignores Ben’s monotone “Klaus. Klaus. Klaus-”

He makes his way towards a nearby park, humming Queen loudly to drown out his brother and god was Ben always that annoying? He refuses to think that that development might be due to his long exposure to Klaus. 

“Jesus Christ, shut up!” he ends up shouting, rounding on him, Ben smirks and Klaus scowls back. 

“You ready to stop being so childish?” 

“ _ I  _ was being childish?” He asks incredulously. 

“Klaus, you healed Matty.” 

“Nops. See, that did not happen.” he says kicking down to lie on an out of the way bench, wrapping his coat tighter around him.

“Well,  _ something  _ happened. ‘Cause Matty was dead, and then suddenly he was not.” 

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Ben, I see dead people that’s what I do, healing that’s just not my thing, now go away, I wanna sleep.” he mumbles out. 

“Maybe it  _ wasn’t _ healing.” Ben muses. “Maybe it’s something to do with the soul, maybe-” Ben is sounding more excited but Klaus is fucking exhausted, a bone deep thing that has nothing to do with sobriety and  _ absolutely nothing to do with miracle healing.  _

“Shut  _ up,  _ Ben” and because he feels guilty for being so cross with his brother he adds “Please.”

Ben sighs, but settles his incorporeal ass besides Klaus’s head anyway. 

Between one breath and the next, Klaus falls asleep.

**

They do not mention the Matty Thing again, or well,  _ Klaus _ doesn’t mention it and ignores Ben until he drops it, it works out for them.

Klaus is all jittery and coming down from a high, there is a very annoying ghost that keeps screeching about a bastard husband who had her killed, honestly Klaus would sympathize if she’d just stop screeching at talk at a normal decibel.

She does not. 

So he’s bracing himself for a miserable afternoon when Ben points it out. 

It, is a miserable sort of whining that is just low enough to be lost in the sounds of day to day life. 

He’s all for ignoring it but Ben is insistent on checking it out and Ben rarely gets that invested in anything so they go to check it out. 

The things he does for love.

Ben is a couple of steps ahead of him and is crouching near a wall, Klaus stands next to him, there is a large cat with a vicious looking wound on the side, it’s snuffling and breathing too fast for it too be normal.

“Aw, the poor thing.” Klaus says, and Ben nods, silent.

“We should get it to a vet.” he says, but he knows he won’t, he’s broke, they won’t help him. 

Ben knows it too, if his silence is any indication. 

Klaus bites his lip, letting the silence hang for a moment, “C’mon Benny, let’s go, nothing we can do.”

Ben was always, always, the softest out of his siblings, him and Vanya...maybe too soft. 

“C’mon Ben.” 

Ben doesn’t move, his fingers are moving over the cat’s body, he would be petting it, if his fingers weren’t going through it. 

“Maybe- maybe, you could try to- do the Matty thing.” Ben says, haltingly. 

Klaus frowns, annoyed, but one look at Ben’s face, tentatively hopeful and apologetic makes him sigh. 

“Okay, okay, I can do this.” He whispers to himself and crouches down besides Ben. 

He pauses for a second, unsure of how to proceed, trying to remember if he felt any different with Matty, but that night was hazy at best. He places one hand of the cat and it hisses at him, but is apparently too weak to try and dislodge him, it slumps back in exhaustion letting out a pathetic meow. 

Klaus licks his lips and closes his eyes, taking a deep breathe and just- wishes. 

He doesn’t want the cat to hurt, he wan’t it to stay alive, to thrive, to walk, for its body to mend and it’s soul to keep using the body as a vessel.

And just like that, he feels it. A tugging low in his belly, something flowing  _ through  _ him and out into the cat. 

His eyes fly open and he stays suspended in the moment;  before his eyes, the cat’s body shifts and changes, the wound closing, it’s breathing evening out, it’s emaciated body filling out and just like that, the wounded feral stray looks more like a dirty house cat, one that’s a bit bloody, but alive and healthy. 

“Huh.” he gets out. 

And then promptly passes out.

 

Ben is there when he regains consciousness, -Ben is always there-  he’s looking at him with such wonder in his eyes it’s making Klaus feel slightly uncomfortable, he’s not used to such looks being thrown his way. 

He turns around looking for the cat, it’s not there.

“It went away.” Ben says, and the wonder is still there in his voice. “It woke up and went wandering off.” he adds, almost gleefully.

Klaus groans, he’s rifling through his pockets before he could fully understand what is happening, he’s out of pills but there is some pot laced chocolate in his pocket, he breaks off a piece gratefully, slowly munching at it, even though he’s starving and would give anything to wolf it down. He takes a shuddering breath and closes his eyes gratefully as the calming effect of pot takes over, it’s too soon for it to be actually taking effect, but just the placebo effect is enough for now. 

“Klaus, you did it.” Ben says, not commenting on the chocolate. 

“Mh-m” he grunts, munching at the bar. 

“No, listen to me,” Ben says, kneeling in front of him. “You fixed that cat, you healed Matty, even that day I’m pretty sure you brought yourself back from the dead.” 

Klaus raises an eyebrow. “So?” he drawls out. 

“So? So your powers are greater than we thought, they’re not just about seeing the dead” He says, as excited as Ben ever gets, which is not so much, his brother is such a downer at times.

“Yeah, so?” He repeats again.

“We could help people.”

“I don’t  _ want  _ to help people Ben, I just- I just want to-” Get high and have fun. He doesn’t say. 

But it is obvious by the way he’s trailing off. 

The disappointment that’s rolling off of Ben in waves is- it hurts. So Klaus deals with it the way he deals with everything else, he ignores it, stands up, ignores the swaying ,his shoulders are hunched close to  his ears and he just walking away. Away from Ben and his disappointed face. 

It’s not like Klaus doesn’t want to help people, maybe a long time ago, when The Umbrella Academy was still a thing, he would have been ecstatic at finding such powers, he would have jumped at the chance of being more than the creepy lookout. 

There were days when he used to fantasize about the other things he might be able to do, to be more useful, like Five and his jumps or like Luther’s super strength, something cool that doesn’t lead to claw at his face in desperation.  

Maybe if he’d just worked hard enough at his powers he would have figured it earlier, maybe he would have figured it soon enough to keep Ben alive. 

Maybe- 

He lets out a frustrated scream, kicking the loose gravel and ignores the looks that that gets him, his feet end up taking him to a small diner. He stands there for a second, he literally doesn’t have any money left. nothing . nada. 

He’s so hungry though. 

He sighs and turns around, colliding solidly with someone.

“Woah-” 

“Watch out, asshole” a man calls out. 

The figure, a small woman, steadies him, and glares at her companion. Klaus flashes her a grin and turns to face the bastard, throw some choice insults at him. 

“Diego?!” he says instead, eyes wide and an honestly pleased expression on his face.

“Klaus? What are you doing here?” Diego says, eyes flitting between the woman and Klaus’s no doubtedly unkempt form. 

The pleasure dims a little at Diego’s obvious reluctance to be seen with him, so he takes a step back eyes instinctively searching for Ben for reassurance. 

He finds him sending a dirty look towards Diego, it helps ease the dark feeling that settles in his chest. 

Diego must have noticed how his words sounded or maybe the well placed elbow from his lady-friend was what clued him in, ‘cause he hastens to add “Not that i’m not -uh happy to see you, it’s uh-  been-been a while?” It ends up being more of a question than a statement and the man winces. 

The woman huffs rolling her eyes, “What Diego is trying to say here, is that we’re happy to see you -Klaus was it? My name is Eudora, Why don’t you join us?” She says motioning towards the diner, there is a calculating look in her eyes that makes Klaus just a tad wary of her.

At Diego’s panicked look, Klaus sends what he hopes is a convincing grin, “Nah thanks, don’t want to crash your date or anything, see ya later Diego.” he says, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly. 

He’s turning on his heel, - high heels are great for a dramatic exit- when his stomach chooses that exact moment to betray him, it growls and klaus feels shame burning his face he is all but ready to ignore the sound and keep walking, his empty pockets all but burning in reminder when the lady grabs his arm. 

He turns, startled, and catches sight of her determined face. “No, I insist, come on. I’ll pay” she says. 

He looks at Diego, waits for an indication of what to do next, the lure of free food too good to ignore but he’s not going to do anything to jeopardize whatever Diego’s got going on in his life or whatever, but Diego’s face is taking on a very familiar determined expression, the guilt going on the back-burner. 

“Yeah, c’mon Klaus, let’s catch up.” he says, putting one hand on Klaus’s shoulder, all but frog-marching him inside.


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, Wow! I did not expect such lovely support! thank you so much <3   
> Second thing, don't hate on Diego too much? He can be bit of an ass but he will get better i swear :'3c  
> Enjoy!

Klaus orders waffles.

And fried eggs.

And sneaking a look at not-girlfriend's face, he orders coffee as well, he doesn't even _ like _ coffee. 

‘cause why the hell not? He ain’t the one paying. 

He’s sitting on the red vinyl seat opposite to Diego and maybe-girlfriend, Ben is sitting besides him, not that anyone  _ else  _ is aware of that little fact, but he’s made sure to wait until Ben sled in first, he always prefers the seat against the wall. 

Lady-friend-who-might-be-a-girlfriend, Eudora, is looking at him like he’s a particularly complicated puzzle. Klaus resents that, he’s a pretty simple creature, all things considered. 

“So, an ex?” She asks, breaking the silence.

It takes Klaus a second to realize what she’s implying but Diego is already spluttering out horrified denials, and Ben is pausing in his one sided glaring campaign to crack a smile. 

“Pfft. He wishes.”Klaus says arrogantly, but is a bit thrown by how she reached that assumption. 

Eudora smiles, unashamed, “Huh, and I was so sure too, I mean all that leather…” and she trails off meaningfully. 

Klaus laughs, delighted.  

“I like her.” Ben says. Klaus grins in agreement. 

“So, you’ve  _ really _ never had a boyfriend?” She asks and it’s addressed to Diego who is red and horrified, it is clearly an old conversation , one that involves lots of violent denials, so it seems.

“ _ No.  _ And that, is my _ brother.”  _ He hisses, pointing at Klaus.

Klaus gives a jaunty wave, the hello clearly visible on his palm. 

"Brother? You've never mentioned a brother." And the way she's looking at him is taking on a different light, Klaus is usually very good at reading people, it is the sort of skill one gains when growing up with an emotionless asshole like Reginald Hargreeves for a father, the sort of skill that his _ lifestyle  _ augmented, but in that very second, he was too exhausted to spare the brain-power -and willpower, to be fair- to figure the woman out.

Diego trusted her, she was paying for food, good enough for him. 

Diego's face goes all weird, mouth down-turned and eyebrows knitted, he knows that look, it’s not an attractive look on his brother, but that’s what he looks like when he tries to lie without really lying, it exhausting, like seriously, why go through the trouble when you’re lying either way? 

"We're not really- close." Is what he ends up saying. 

It is the truth, so he hums in agreement,  but it stings a bit, 'cause there was a time back when they were still an odd seven with no dead among them that they  _ could've  _ been close, they  _ could've  _ cared for each other how normal siblings do.

But then Five disappeared, and Ben died. And life at the Academy just- it wasn't worth it anymore. 

"No shit." She says. 

Diego is avoiding her eyes, fingers tapping a silent rhythm on the table, and Klaus is left with the unenviable position of feeling like an intruder. Klaus is very aware of when he’s not wanted, sometimes -most times- he ignores the hints, now is one of those times, he wants the food dammit. 

So he looks at Ben, pretending to be disinterested in whatever relationship drama he managed to pull out.

Ben is watching the both of them like they’re a particularly intense episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, noticing his attention, Ben leans closer, an impression of closeness that only serves to make Klaus colder -makes the shaking worse- but he likes it nonetheless.

The tense moment is broken by the arrival of a cheerful waitress placing down their plates and telling them to enjoy their meal.

The food looks great, but the smell is paradoxical, 'cause on one hand he's fucking ravenous, but there is also a low grade nausea that is taking root in his stomach, one that  _ might  _ feel better when he eats or it might as well not.

He doesn't feel like throwing-up, he’s done enough of that last night. 

Sometimes downing a bottle of cheap Vodka might seem like a good idea… oftentimes, it really isn’t. 

Free food though. 

Klaus puffs out a frustrated breath and slides his plate so that it’s equidistant between him and Ben, Ben can’t eat, but he likes the smell. (and isn’t that weird? A ghost with a sense of smell.)  

Lady-friend-who-might-be-a-girlfriend, is looking at him with a raised eyebrow, "you don't like it?" 

"Nah, it smells great." To illustrate the point he grabs one of the toast triangles that came with the eggs and starts munching. 

His stomach, miraculously, settles down. 

And just like that, he's fucking  _ starving.  _

It takes him a while to realize that he's the only one eating 'cause there are no sounds opposite to him, he looks up confused. 

Eudora is looking at him with a confused sort of wondering, her fork half-way up to her mouth, Diego's eyebrows are knitted in concern. 

“Something wrong?” He asks, blinking.

"When's the last time you've eaten, Klaus?" Diego says, like they're the sort of siblings who ask each other these kind of things. 

Klaus shrugs, "this morning" and it is honest enough, he's had chocolate -pot chocolate- almost half an hour ago, that counted as food.

Now if he'd asked about last meal, well- 

The thought was amusing enough that he lets out a slight giggle before clamping it down.

“Are you  _ high _ ?” Diego asks and it’s incredulous. 

Klaus shrugs, he’s not sure, pot doesn’t do much for him anymore, it dulls the world a bit, it’s easier to ignore the ghosts, but he’s not sure it qualifies as  _ high.  _

Diego squares his shoulders. And his jaw. He just, Becomes very square-y all of a sudden.

“No, I need an actual answer here Klaus.”

“Watcha think Benny-boy” Klaus asks, eyebrows raise theatrically, “Am I high?” 

Ben makes a so-so motion with his hand and Klaus grins.

“Ben says I'm not high.” He announces like a victory.

“I did not!” Ben protests, not very convincingly though.

“Hush, you.” Klaus says fondly.

Eudora’s leaning back in her chair as if she wants to escape but is unsure how to do so appropriately. She’s opening her mouth and closing it again, like she wants to say something but isn’t sure how to best phrase it, Klaus doesn’t blame her, awkward family reunions must be nerve-wracking.

“Really? Really Klaus, we’re doing this here?” Diego says lowly. 

Doing what? He wants to say, but another look at Eudora and it hits him, and with it the slow-dawning realization that “You didn’t tell her, you didn’t tell her  _ anything.”  _ he says with a small, disbelieving laugh. 

Eudora frowns, “tell me what?” She asks, and ah there’s that danger. 

Diego looks at her with real panic, the look of a man who is in deep shit and is unsure how to get out unscathed. 

Funny thing brother dear, as someone who’s slept in literal shit many, many, times in his life, he can say with all authority that there is no way to get out without something icky sticking to you. 

“Oh nothing really, just that we’re-”

“ _ Shut up.”  _ Diego hisses out, and oops, there’s real anger there. What an angry bunch. 

“Woah, calm down, Diego-dear-” 

“He really should tell her though.” Ben says with all the authority of a ghost who’s only relationship experience came from trashy romance novels, heaven knows Ben died before he could so much as kiss a girl (or a guy).

“-Ben thinks you should tell her though.” He adds, just to be a little shit.

“Ben is fucking  _ dead” _ He all but shouts at him, fists banging on the table.

“Diego!” Eudora hisses, shocked. Probably not at the words as much as the tone used.

Klaus reals back. “What is wrong with  _ you _ ?” he says, taken aback.  

“What is wrong with  _ me _ ? What the hell is wrong with  _ you, _ you’re wasting your life Klaus, you’re not trying hard enough, you’re high all the time, you show up looking like some sort of cheap  _ hooker _ and you’re still pretending that Ben is here and it is getting fucking old, okay?” Diego says, voice getting louder with every word, breath coming out in angry puffs.  

Klaus feels like someone’s just slapped him in the face, he looks at Diego, really looks, and just- he stops, there’s none of his brother’s usual kindness, nothing light-hearted that could be used to salvage the conversation. Not that he wants to spend any more second with that  _ bastard. _ He wants to say ‘I’m not here for you, I wasn’t looking for you, what right do you have to judge me?’ he says none of that.

He slides out of the booth, ignoring Eudora who’s covering her mouth with a hand, mortified. 

“Fuck you.” Klaus says. Cause what else is there to be said? 

  
  
  


Klaus is  _ angry, _ he is so angry he is shaking with it, with the indignation and the hurt of it.

“ _ You’re not trying hard enough, Klaus.”  _ He mocks viciously. “ _ You look like a Hooker, Klaus.” _

“Fuck him!” 

What the hell does he even know, that fucking bastard. 

He’s walking like stumbling, and he’s rounding up on Ben who’s following after him ever faithfully, “Did you hear what he said?  _ Fuck him.” _ he spits out. 

Ben says something, but it is lost in the roaring in his ears. 

He is angry and he’s furious and people around him are moving away, avoiding the freak in the sparkly shirt (who looks like a  _ hooker) _ who’s screaming at himself. 

”He shouldn’t have said that.” Ben says.

“ _ Yes. _ He fucking shouldn’t have. Like what does he even know anyway.  _ You’re better than this, Klaus.  _ Fuck. him.” 

“Klaus.”

“Who does he think he is?”

“Klaus.”

“-like, fuck, just because he’s got a somewhat normal li-”

“Klaus”

“-fe now, he thinks he can just go around judging  _ me _ ?”

“ _ Klaus.” _

_ “What?” _ he bites out viciously, rounding on his dead brother. 

“Look.” Ben says urgently, gesturing behind him.

Klaus turns around, and there is a man and a woman, siblings or lovers or whatever the fuck, they’re on their knees clutching at their chests, they’re making a terrible choking sound, but that’s not what’s strange, no, oh no, what is  _ strange  _  is the vague silhouette of their souls being  _ forced  _ outside of their bodies, agonized and desperate to remain anchored. 

The sight shocks him into stillness, his jaw snaps shut and his anger fizzles away and with it the strange, intense pressure that surrounded him, his ears pop and slowly, sound return, and just as slowly, the silhouettes fade and the man falls on his back, the woman gasps out a desperate breath, she’s sobbing, a loud and ugly thing, clutching at her chest, at his hand. People are already gathering around them, someone is calling 911.

Klaus stumbles backward. 

“Klaus, your eyes were glowing” Ben says.

He looks at them, at Ben with eyes wide and jaws clenched.

“Christ, I need a fucking drink.” 

  
  
  


“Are we going to talk about this now?” Ben asks from his seat on the swing. 

Klaus is sitting on the dusty ground, back to one of the metal struts, he’s holding a bottle of something cheap and terrible, but he’s not drunk. He’s  _ drinking _ though and that is an important distinction to make, He doesn’t want to think. 

Doesn’t want to talk either- and he  _ adores  _ talking. 

“Do you think he’s right?” he asks, and in the evening light, he’s stripped of all pretenses, all shields. It is obvious that that was not what Ben wanted to talk about, but he licks his lips “I think that it is your life; you’re free to do whatever you want with it -and he has no right to say what he said.” is said slowly, every word picked and chosen carefully. 

Klasu takes a swig of brown-and-disgusting. “I tried, you know.” 

“I know.” 

“With the- with ghosts and the drugs and the…” He trails off.

“I know.”

“It’s just so hard.”

“I know, Klaus, you don’t ha-”

“They’re- so loud-” he says, and hates how his voice breaks at the end, how wet it sounds.”-so loud.” is barely a whisper.  

Ben gets up from the swing and sort of reappear besides him, cold and not solid enough to be a physical comfort.

“Fuck him.” Ben says, and it is gentle.

Klaus raises his bottle in a parody of a toast. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! I hope you guys enjoyed it! cause i certainly enjoyed writing it! (there is one tiny reference in there though, kudos to whoever spots it).  
> Don't forget to leave a comment though (I live for your comments :D)  
> -sevansa


	3. III

“Okay, we need to figure out what the hell is going on with my powers.” Klaus, freshly dosed, and freshly fucked says, throwing himself at a surprisingly comfy chair.

“Who are you?” Ben asks.

“What?” 

“The Klaus I know can never pull his head out of his ass enough to realize when stuff needs figuring out, ergo, who are you and what have you done to my brother?” Ben says all that from where he’s lounging on a threadbare sofa in some guy’s apartment.

“Ha Ha, you missed your call as a comedian, brother-dear.” Klaus says, sarcasm dripping from his tongue.

Ben grins at him. 

Klaus bares his teeth. 

“No, but seriously, any thoughts?”

“Mhm,” Ben hums noncommittally, letting the silence stretch. 

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re a dramatic asshole?” Klaus asks conversely, rolling his eyes.

“I’m not the one wearing a feather-boa” 

Klaus gives him the middle-finger, Seriously, he doesn’t think Ben was that annoying before he died. Death must really agree with him. 

That’s a terrible thought. 

“So while you were busy fucking what’s his name, I have been looking through some sites and uh- I have no idea.” Ben ends with a sheepish shrug.

Klaus just looks at his brother, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, a snort find its way out, to his drug-addled mind, it must have seemed like the funniest shit to be ever said, cause the snort just devolves into a fit of hysterical giggles, “Seriously, Ben?”

“Uh - Good morning?”

Klaus looks up startled at the sound only to find what’s his name, something with a D, (pfft he had a D alright) Dan, Don no, Derek!

“Good morning, Derek!” Klaus says brightly still trying to recover from his odd fit of giggles. 

“I-It’s Adam.” The man, who’s wearing sweatpants and looks extremely out of his depth stutters out. He’s watching Klaus like he’s not sure what he’s still doing at his home.

“‘Course I knew that-” He says easily enough”What’s for breakfast Adam-dear?”

 “Uh-” the man says, eyes darting towards the front door, probably hoping klaus would get the hint and fuck off. HA! Joke’s on him, klaus got the hint and is not going anywhere until he gets a well due breakfast. 

Adam is still standing blinking like an idiot, the morning after always makes Klaus question his life choices. 

“Well?” Klaus says, grinning a bit meanly.

“I- have eggs?” 

Ben rolls his eyes.

  
  
  


An extremely awkward (not for him though , Klaus doesn’t  _ do  _ awkward.) breakfast later, he’s staggering his way all over the city, belly full and brimming with good cheer.

“Now what?” Ben asks, floating beside him

“Now we try to figure out what’s going on.” Klaus shrugs.

“I… May have an idea.” Is says haltingly, floating in a small circle around Klaus as they waited for the light to change. 

“Why do I not like the sound of that?” Klaus says and boy is it weird to be the one saying that.

“It’s not a- good? Idea?”  seriously, so weird, to be on the opposite side.

“And that’s coming from you!” He crows, cheerfully. 

The silence that follows is unnerving enough that Klaus actually pauses and turns to look at his brother whose face is kind of hidden by the hood, Klaus swallows, licking his lips.

“It’s just an idea, dude, I’ll tell you if it sucks.” He says, aiming for light-hearted and unsure if he nailed it.

The silence carries them to one of Klaus’s usual haunts, he’d snatched a mag with Allison on the cover and was contemplating checking the article out while Ben worked through whatever freak-out he thought himself into. 

“We could- ask dad?”

Klaus stops so suddenly that Ben phases into him, they both startle at the sensation and Klaus jerks back.

“Sorry .”Ben mutters and it isn’t clear if he meant the suggestion or the phasing.

“We are not asking that man anything. We are not letting that man know anything about this” He says, uncharacteristically serious. 

“He could probably figure it out though.”

“Yeah? How? By experimenting on me again? Nu-uh, not gonna happen.” Klaus says, pointing at Ben accusingly.

"Or Pogo, it doesn't  _ have  _ to be dad." 

"And Pogo goes right around and tells daddy about that, right? Who'll then go and send Luther out to drag  _ my  _ ass back to the house, he’s be all like ‘It’s for your own good Number Four. you need to be restrained Number Four, Oh let’s try and see if that kills you  _ Number Four.’ _ Nah, nu-uh, we are  _ not _ going down that road Ben." He says with a shudder that is in no way theatrical, the only way he’s stepping foot back into the academy is if someone died, preferably their father.   

Ben sighs scratching at his face "yeah. That would be bad." 

Klaus snorts sliding down against the wall to sprawl on the dirty floor. 

"Hello?" 

Klaus looks up, somewhat startled that someone’s managed to sneak up on him. The woman is pretty enough, purely atheistical-wise,  she’s wearing a threadbare coat and a determined expression, her fists are clenched. 

“Who are you?” Klaus asks, blinking. 

“Were you talking to yourself?” She asks, looking around the empty alley in confusion. 

“I was talking to Ben.” Klaus says. 

“Who’s- You know what I don’t care- look, are you Klaus?”

Klaus staggers his way up the wall again. “Who wants to know?” he drawels out.

“I’m Jemma, look, you are Klaus right?” at his nod she adds, “I need your help.”

Wait, what? He runs a hand through his hair, down to tug at his boa. 

No one, absolutely no one, has ever wanted-or needed- his help before. He turns to look at Ben who’s staring at the woman as if she’s the most interesting thing to happen in ages, Noticing Klaus’s gaze, the ghost shrugs. 

Klaus rolls his eyes, real useful, Benny-boy.

“With what?” He says it slowly, cautiously. 

The woman swallows, averting her eyes, before taking a deep breath. 

“Look, Mattew- you know Matthew.” she says and Klaus nods, an inkling starting to form in the back of his mind, Ben floats closer.

“He said, that- that you’re one of those Umbrella kids, that you- you saved him, he was supposed to die and you saved him-”She says, voice getting stronger with every word. “- My friend, she was shot, the bullet went through, but it’s infected and we- we can’t afford hospital- can’t _ really _ go to a hospital, we-” here she pauses looking around, as if afraid someone would overhear them, no chance of that, someone could probably be murdered here and no one would hear them, Klaus would know, he saw the evidence, in fact the evidence is crouching in the corner crying right now, whatever, not his problem. 

“We’re not exactly- legal.” she whispers.

“So can you please, can you- can you help her?” she ends, scared and low.

“Lady, I’m broke same as you.” He says, feigning misunderstanding, buying himself time just to -to think.

“I don’t mean money dipshit-” she growls and then immediately looks sorry about it “- shit sorry, I don’t mean that. Look, Matty said you healed him, I need you to heal her too.”

And yeah there it was. 

He must have hesitated for too long because the lady, Jemma’s eyes were getting brighter by the second. “I- can pay you- somehow, money or- or- booze!, lots of it, you can have it all.” She says, desperate.

A second of silence.

He looks at Ben, Ben shrugs.

“Well. if it’s booze.” 

  
  
  


Klaus follows Jemma to a shitty ground floor apartment in the shitty side of town, it’s not like Klaus has the right to speak though, ‘cause that shitty apartment is more than he could even dream of calling his own, so like, glass houses and all that.

“She’s in here.” she says, pointing to a bedroom. She opens the door, and it is the smell that hits him, that makes this  _ real _ , the smell of sickness and fever. That makes him realize what exactly is being asked of him.

It’s one thing to heal someone, it's something else entirely to _ consciously _ heal someone, to do it with intent when he's not sure exactly how it works. When he's not sure if  he can even do it. He did it with a cat, but it was barely a scratch then, but this-

The woman, she's sleeping fitfully with a fever bright face. Jemma hurries to her friend’s (or girlfriend’s) side. 

"Hey, hey Lu, honey, I got someone to help." 

Lu, does not answer, still sleeping fitfully. 

Jemma takes a deep breathe. 

She removes the blanket and bares the sleeping woman's torso. 

Klaus takes a step back. 

He never thought himself to be squeamish, growing up as an umbrella kid, you learn to live with blood and gore early enough, and Klaus especially, he's been surrounded -still is- by bloody ghosts ever since he could remember, gore does not scare him. 

It is not the gore though, or the festering wound. 

No.

It's the weight of the responsibility, one that he didn't ask for, one that he doesn't think he's entirely ready for.

"Look." Klaus says " I don’t-" hesitating.

"You're backing  _ out?"  _ The woman demands stiffly. incredulously. 

"Uh-" Klaus says, sending Ben a helpless look. 

"Do it, you idiot." 

"You're the idiot!" He hisses.

" _ What?!"  _

_ " _ Nothing! I swear, look I don't- I'm not- I've never really uh-" 

“I know that you Umbrella kids, you have superpowers, look I’m not asking for a miracle, but please, please help her, I-I don’t want her to die.”

And it is here with those words that the woman’s composure broke, the tears keep coming and Klaus- well, he’s always been weak to tears. 

Grimacing, he takes a deep breath and he moves closer, he settles on his knees his hands on either side of the pus-filled wound, not wanting to touch it directly, unsure if he’d contaminate it, make it worse, the wound is already gangrenous, he doesn’t think he  _ can _ make it any worse.

“C’mon Klaus.” Ben says in his best rendition of Supportive Brother™ 

Klaus sends him a dirty look and then tries to concentrate, her skin is hot, the heat from the wound is surprisingly obvious. 

He takes a deep breath and this time, he keeps his eyes open. He thinks of what it felt like, to be so angry at his brother, that that force just flowed out of him. He thinks to how he wanted Matty to live so much, that it felt  _ easy  _ to wish him back to health, He thinks of how the energy felt, flowing through his body like a shiver, flowing through his fingertips and  _ out. _

It is blue. 

Is the first thought that enters his mind, the energy -for it is energy of some sorts- feels physical, sort of heavy, it gathers from around him, and into him, and out, into the body lying in front of him, it touches the skin and disappears in a wisp of smoke, the more smoke is produced the smaller the wound looks, the cooler  the skin feels, and he is tethered in that moment, barely moving -not wanting to move- he doesn’t think. Not of now , not of the future, not of anything, there is no room for thought, not with all that  _ energy  _ at his disposal.

The soul that is barely holding onto the body, a silhouette that is startlingly clear, is fading by the second, sinking back into the flesh, it takes Klaus a second to realize that had the Soul solidified, it would have turned into a ghost- or maybe passed on. He’s not sure how he knew that, but it felt- right. 

And just like that, it’s over. 

Klaus gasps, his lungs feel starved of oxygen, and fallson his back, suddenly boneless, he’s panting, exhausting and fucking hungry -not fair he had breakfast today!-

“Oh my god.” Jemma whispers, her hands covering her mouth and staring wide eyed at him, at the body, hell, even at Ben. 

“What- was that?” She says wavering.

Klaus grins, relishing in the feeling of success, because he knows. He  _ knows.  _ The woman will live.

“That, honey, is your miracle.”

  
  
  


He probably passes out after that, not very cool, collapsing like that, Ben laughs at him, he says it was the most pathetic thing he’d ever seen Klaus do. Which  _ rude. _

Whatever. 

He wakes up on a couch with warm blankets over him and Ben sitting through his feet, a cold spot leeching at his warmth. His head is killing him, it’s like the worst hangover he’d ever had, but for the first time in like, years probably, he doesn’t feel the cravings quite as strongly as he did before. 

“Morning sleeping beauty.” Ben says.

“Aw, no kiss?” Klaus pouts theatrically at him, batting his eyelashes in mock hurt. 

Ben wrinkles his nose. “You wish.”

“Oh! You’re awake!” Jemma is coming out of the bedroom, eyes bright and the general air of misery that surrounded her last night? Is all gone, with it, a weight off her shoulders so it seems. 

She is grinning, bright and young and full of life.

“Lu woke up last night, she’s doing great so-” She pauses, blinking. “-Thank you.”

The sincerity is all but physical, and Klaus is- Klaus is  _ happy _ , a full body happiness  that is deep and profound in a way he’s never experienced before. 

He grins. 

“Anything for the booze, Lady.” 

That startles her enough that she laughs, bright and shocked.

“Yeah, haven’t forgot about that, breakfast too, I hope?” She adds. 

And like, why not?

Well due breakfast and all that jazz.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!   
> no seriously, the amount of support i'm getting on this fic is brilliant! I love you all!  
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to leave a comment!


	4. IV

Nothing changes the first couple of days, he parties, he sleeps around, he tries to figure out the extent of his healing, he drinks and smokes and generally enjoys existence as much as he can. 

It’s cool, it’s fun.

It’s exhausting. 

But he’ll live, he spent years perfecting his lifestyle, and it is solid gold. (not.) 

Then- 

_ It  _ starts. 

It, being people seeking him out specifically. That is a significant enough change in his life that it warrants attention. 

Generally, no one seeks Klaus out, he’s useless! Generally, the only reason anyone comes looking for him,  is ‘cause he’s been known to give out some  _ favours  _ in return to some drugs, it’s not something he does a lot, tries not to do a lot, you never know what sort of shit he could end up contracting after all, sometimes though, he’s broke and going through withdrawals and well, needs must and all that shit. C’est la vie. What to do? 

But then a man seeks him out not for a quickie in the backroom of some seedy club, but ‘cause he has a broken bone, Klaus -obviously- refuses, the man offers to buy him a burger, Klaus heals him.  

A teen corners him near a 24/7 with an infected piercing, and a genuine fear that she’ll lose her ear, She offers him a shitty beer, Klaus accepts, not ‘cause he wants the beer -he hates beer- but ‘cause he’s been there before, so he heals the infection, but the hole closes as well, shame. 

Every couple of days, someone stop him and drags him to seedy corners where he’s asked to do this or that.

He heals his fair share of stab and bullet wounds, he found out that he’s able to heal the tissue around a forgein object, but that causes an extreme amount of pain, so he learned to remove the bullet first. That was a fun one, his hands wouldn’t stop shaking the whole night, and it had nothing to do with drugs. The man was so grateful though, he allowed Klaus to crash for the night in a very comfy bed (A bed!)  

He’s never had such a steady income before! granted, it’s usually beer or food but sometimes it’s money or pills, those are always great. 

“We need to figure out the extent of your healing, like, can you cure cancer? What about viral infections, can you regrow limbs?”  Ben says once. “What constitutes of healing? Does mental illness count? What about addiction? Is it only physical? Mental?” 

Klaus blinks out of the daze, he’s laying on a park bench with a magazine in one hand, doing a piss-poor job of reading. “Yeah-” He clears his throat,”-I have no idea what you just said.”

Ben swats the magazine out of his hand, it doesn’t work, but the intent is clear enough. 

Klaus blows him a raspberry. 

Ben frowns. 

“Very mature.” 

“Ain’t I just.” He drawels out.

“C’mon Klaus, aren’t you curious? You’d have killed to have that power when we were kids.” 

Klaus rolls his eyes, still pretending to be reading. 

“I, unlike some, grew-up Benny-boy.” 

“Low blow, you ass.”

“You love me.”

Ben sighs, and settles down on the ground in front of Klaus. His disapproval all but a physical force.

“You are so troublesome.” Ben says. 

“Mhm.” Klaus hums in response. 

silence . 

It stretches for a while, and Klaus hates that, he hates how when he’s quiet, he can hear the faint wailing of the dead, the way they cry and scream out in tourtured voices, he hates the noise, but he can’t stand what the silence brings. 

More time passes. 

Klaus groans in defeat, he rights himself. 

“Fine you win. How are we supposed to figure this out?” 

“Experiment. Research.” Ben says, the ‘duh’ is very obvious . 

“Ew.” 

“Klaus.”

“Fine, fine, like what am I supposed to do? break into a vet’s office and heal the kitties?” He says sarcastically. When the silence stretches, Klaus finally takes his eyes off the magazine only to be greeted with his brother’s grinning face. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  
  
  
  


“This is a terrible idea.” 

“It was your idea” Ben says, shrugging, the picture of innocence.

“You enabled me! you’re a terrible influence i’m sending you back to the ghost world.”

“As if you could.” Ben says.

They were in front of the local vet clinic, it was closed for the night, Klaus looks around superstitiously before trying the front door, locked. 

He gets out a set of lockpicks and starts working. 

“If I get arrested for this, I’m totally blaming you.” Klaus mutters. 

A few minutes of tense silence, there is a click and the door opens.

“Ha!” Klaus grins. 

“Hurry up.” Ben says.

“Yeah, yeah.” 

They sneak into the clinic like two criminals on their way to rob a bank, when no alarm sounds, they both relax marginally. 

“Okay. I think they keep the animals at the back room?” 

Klaus doesn’t answer but he heads towards the backroom, where indeed there were cages stacked against either side of the walls, most of them were empty save for five or so. 

Klaus puts the flashlight in his mouth and makes his way to the first cage, where a little grey cat was watching him with a single blue eye, the second one was taped and bandaged. 

“It says, she lost it.” Ben says motioning towards the chart attached to the bottom of the cage.

“Should I-”

“Try regrowing it?” Ben says, voice hushed and uncertain. 

Klaus swallows, this is, objectively doing something good, but for some reason, it feels like a shitty thing to do, maybe the breaking and entering part. Strange, he’d never felt any qualms about that before. He must be getting soft. All the curses on you Ben. 

He reaches out. “Don’t unlock it- we don’t want to chase it all over the clinic.” Ben says, hand going to stop Klaus’s wrist, only to sink through. 

Ben huffs in frustration. 

Klaus nods and reaches his fingers through the gaps between the bars, his fingers touch soft fur, the cat meows softly and starts purring curling closer to his fingers, Klaus ‘awws’ and he can’t help but stroke his finger through it, at the second pass, he feels it, a general sensation of heat, that he’s coming to associate with budding infection. 

He closes his eyes and concentrates on healing the cat, on remaking it’s eye. 

The infection fades away in wisps of smoke, a couple of tense seconds pass, but that’s it. 

The energy that is flowing through Klaus and into the cat, diffuses out again into the environment. 

The glowing fades and Klaus takes his hand off. “Uh- I don’t think it’s working.” he says.

“So you can’t create something out of nothing, huh.” Ben says, fingers twitching as if he wants to be writing his observations down, wouldn’t daddy-dearest be proud. 

“No regrowing limbs for me.” Klaus mutters with a shrug, moving on to the next cage. 

It has a little puppy with an IV inserted into it, it’s sleeping but not too peacefully it seems.  

“Aw, you adorable thing.” he checks the chart, doesn’t understand a word out of the medical jargon but he gets the general vibe, “Poor guy has an inflamed pancreas? The fuck does a pancreas do?” He mutters to himself, fingers already glowing a shimmery blue, within a minute, he is done, the shimmer fades away, Klaus sways on his feet. 

“What the actual fuck.”

Klaus whirls around, fists raised and heart beating a million miles a minute. 

The figure takes one step closer and Klaus takes a step back, eyes darting to Ben, who’s standing there uselessly, with a grimace on his face.

“Sorry.” Is what Ben says. 

Klaus hisses back at him. 

“Klaus?”

Klaus blinks, takes his flashlight and points it at the figure, in all his leather clad glory, stands Diego wearing his domino mask and brandishing a knife. 

“Diego? You scared the everliving fuck out of me, man!” Klaus hisses at him, hand clutching at his heart in a not entirely theatrical display.

“What the hell was that?” Diego asks, still holding the knife threateningly. 

“Uh-” his eyes dart around. 

Diego lets out a groan. “No, wait, sorry. That’s not- we have to go, you tripped a silent alarm, We can speak somewhere else.” 

“Shit, how much do we have?” Klaus asks. 

Diego sends him a weird look for a second before saying, “Ten minutes, give or take.”

“That’s plenty time to finish the rest.” Ben says from behind him. 

Klaus startles.”Christ, Ben don’t  _ do  _ that.” 

“Sorry.” Ben says, smiling, the little shit.

“Klaus, C’mon.” Diego says, sounding impatient, but he doesn’t comment on Klaus’s mention of Ben, weird. 

“Sorry, Bro, gotta finish this first.”

“Finish  _ what?” _ Diego hisses at him , eyes darting around the room as if cops would jump them at any second.

Klaus doesn’t answer, he tries to ignore the eyes boring into his back, the way Diego stands around at the ready as if to snatch him and run (or most likely run and leave Klaus alone to face the music.)

He goes to the occupied cages and just- he feels the wrongness in their souls, he doesn’t check the charts, doesn’t think it really matters to his powers if he knew what was wrong with the animals, he just, he feels the wrongness and he  _ burns  _ it, he replaces it with pure energy, ones that feel  _ right. _

By the time the sirens sound closer, they’re halfway across the street and disappearing into the night. 

  
  
  
  


They end up in a diner, again. 

Klaus is breaking up pieces of his special chocolate and munching on them with a single minded intensity while Diego sits awkwardly looking like he’s on his way to having an aneurysm. 

It is obvious that Diego is burning with curiosity, but something is stopping him from grilling Klaus, and honestly, it might be a little terrible, But Klaus is enjoying Diego’s suffering a little too much to help. Serves him right, the bastard. 

Ben keeps poking Diego in the side, only to watch his finger disappear into the guy’s flesh. 

Diego keeps rubbing at the spot and Klaus is trying his best not to laugh out loud. 

“Look, Klaus. I’m- I’m sorry.” Diego finally says, eyes downcast with a shameful hunch to his shoulders. “The things I’ve said, they were cruel. I shouldn’t have said them.” 

And Klaus is a tiny bit impressed that he’s lead with an apology rather than interrogation, but now that it’s actually happening, he’s unsure how to respond, what are you supposed to do when someone apologizes to you? Accept? Psh. 

Ben stops bothering Diego and is just looking at him, waiting to see what he’ll do, say. But Klaus  _ doesn’t  _ know what to say. He should probably brush off the apology, make light of it, that would be the easy thing to do, -the right thing?-

And well, Diego wasn’t exactly wrong, was he? He is doing nothing with his life, wasting it away, he  _ knows  _ that, he’s not blind enough to be unaware of that. He is a disappointment, always have been, probably always will be, useless Number Four, he’s  _ fine  _ with that.

He  _ likes _ his life the way it is.  

“I wanted to apologize earlier, I’ve been looking for you, then I realized I had no idea where you lived so- just. I’m sorry I was a dick to you.”

Klaus swallows. Diego looked for him?

He looks up, grinning. “‘Sokay, I was going to tell your girlfriend about the academy, so fair is fair I guess.” 

Diego grimaces.

“I told her- about- about everything. She gave me an earful.” He says with an embarrassed shrug. 

Klaus raises an eyebrow, amused despite himself, What is it about his brother that makes women  like bossing him around?

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. look-” He pauses, takes a deep breath, squares his shoulder “- I know you have no reason to forgive me, but, we literally haven’t seen each other in like, what? five years? I wanna catch up with you, properly this time.” He says sheepishly, peering at him from under his lashes and aww, Klaus forgot how much he liked Number Two when he wasn’t so busy trying to dethrone Number One and being a huge dick. 

“You’re so easy, Klaus.” Ben says fondly. 

“Shush.”

“Hm?”

“Nothing! I- uh, I guess- okay?” He says.  

“So, now that that’s out of the way-” Diego says leaning forward on the table “-What the  _ fuck  _ was that at the clinic?” 

Klaus laughs, a brief expulsion of air. 

“Boy, have you missed some shit, Brother.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! something I realized writing this chapter, Not everyone believes in the existence of a soul, which should be kind of obvious but somehow I thought everyone believed in souls, It was a bit of a cultural shock XD   
> Anyway, thank you guys so much for your support! and don't forget to leave a comment! it seriously brightens up my day!   
> -sevansa


	5. V

“So I may be able to heal people.” Klaus says with a shit-eating grin. 

“...What?” 

“Yeah! Cool right!” 

“So that blue thing- It was-”

“Yup” he says popping the ‘p’.

Diego is staring at him, mouth slightly open and eyes darting over as if unsure what issue to address first.

“Healing?”

“Uh-huh”

Diego licks his lips. “And, you thought breaking into the vets office to heal the animals was a good idea? You didn’t even take the good stuff out of the medicine cabinet.”

There is a pause where the words seem to wash over Klaus. 

“There were  _ drugs?” _

“Klaus!”

“I’m kidding!” he was not. “Besides, It was Ben’s idea.” he says, honestly pissed he missed the drugs, he could have taken them as fair compensation and then it wouldn’t have been exactly illegal, right?

“I wasn’t the one to suggest it.” Ben says, incensed. 

“Yeah- about that.” Diego starts then pauses. He’s looking around, searching for something. “I didn’t actually- Is Ben really here?” He ends and he sounds like he doesn't know how to feel, what to believe. 

“He’s always been here, You guys just never believe me-" he pauses, eyebrows scrunching while thinking about it "-which is  _ weird,  _ like you people know that I see dead people, why wouldn’t I be seeing Ben?” Klaus says, and he kind of knows the answer to that question, he knows he lost his siblings trust a long, long, time ago, and maybe it’s well-deserved, but the fact that they think Klaus is horrid enough to use Ben’s death for attention or whatever? It hurts. 

Diego looks pained, “I- you always said that you have to be sober to see them.” He says with a helpless shrug. “And you’re not…” He trails off, sober, is what he wants to say.

Klaus blows out a breath, “Ben is different.” Is all he says, ‘cause even he’s not sure why Ben is so clear when all the others are just hazy, screaming masses. 

“Hi Diego.” Ben says, taking pity on the man.

“He says Hi.” 

And if Diego’s face crumples a little, well,  Klaus isn’t telling anyone. 

  
  


They relocate to Diego’s car after one too many pointed looks sent their way from their waitress. 

Klaus is kind of falling into this hazy daze of good-vibes-only, that nothing seems to be able to dampen down. With his brother right beside him, it’s easier to let his consciousness fade without worrying that someone’s going to shank him.

“Where do you live?” Diego asks, hands settling on the wheel. 

Pfft, where  _ does  _ Klaus live? In an alleyway behind a laundromat? In the beds of his many, many, conquests? The park? 

He’s getting sleepy.

“I don’t live anywhere.” He slurs, and the sentence seems like the most hilarious thing to ever come out of his mouth ‘cause he promptly bursts into a fit of giggles. He snuggling down into the seat.

Diego sends him a look that is one part worried and two parts annoyed. It’s hilarious. 

“Breathe, Klaus.” Ben has to remind him.   

“What does that even mean?” Diego says, Running a hand through his hair. 

“Means, brother dear, that I’m a homeless junkie! Not very surprising to be fair.” He says but addresses the last part to Ben in the backseat who shrugs a sort of ‘yeah, true’ shrug. 

Klaus makes a face at him. 

“ _ What.” _ it is not a question. 

“What?” Klaus says, honestly confused. 

“What do you mean homeless, What have you been doing with the money Pogo sends you? Do you blow it all on drugs?” Diego says and he sounds dangerous, like fuck you brother-dear it wouldn't be your business even if he was blowing it on drugs, it's his money!

He doesn't say any of that though, 'cause the car is warm and he's not ready to brave the cold outside when Diego inevitably kicks him out.

“That’s mean,” Klaus says instead, pouting, even though that’s what he  _ used  _ to do with the money, he still used it to pay rent though. “Pogo stopped sending money like- like ages ago, how long has it been Ben?”

“Three years.” Ben says, like a defeat.

“Three years!” Klaus crows, laughing. 

“What? Why? He still sends me money, I’m pretty sure he even sends  _ Allison  _ some, and she doesn't need it.” God knows you need it more than most, he doesn't say.

“What was it that he said-uh” He says, trailing off before snapping his fingers and righting himself in the seat, doing his best impression of daddy-dearest he says “I will not be complicit in your drug habits, Number Four.” Klaus couldn’t maintain the composure required to impersonate their dad enough for him to scowl and ends up giggling instead.

Diego is silent and Klaus realizes that it might sound like he's complaining or asking for money, that his brother might feel pressured into offering him money or housing or whatever. And honestly, Klaus usually wouldn’t refuse he’d take the money offered or whatever, but he’s been trying this thing lately, where he does not take things from people if he hasn’t earned them.

It's slow progress, but it makes Ben happy.

Plus, it’s not like he’s hurting for cash. Or drugs. 

“You can drop me off anywhere though!” he reassures. 

“What?” Diego sounds weird, “That’s not what- no- I’m not t-throwing you o-on the st-s-street like a piece of t-trash!” He says, voice rising at the end, almost shouting. The stutter is back.

Klaus jumps in his seat and gives his brother a startled look. “Jesus, what crawled up your ass?” 

“Did you just hear a word out of your mouth? You’re telling me that D-Dad made Pogo s-stop giving you money, that you’re living on the  _ s-street,  _ that I’m just su-supposed to drop you off somewhere and be d-done with it?”

“Uh- Yeah? It’s not like I’ll disappear bro, we could totally hang out whenever, plus if I have known you were going to miss me that much I'd have shown up more often.” He says with a flirtatious bat of his eyelashes.

Diego closes his eyes. “I’m taking you home.”

"Woah, forward ain't we?" 

"Gross." Ben says from the backseat.

"You're just jealous, Ben." He says with a laugh.

Diego taps his forehead gently on the steering wheel, once, twice.

Klaus isn't sure if he's supposed to be worried. He decides not to, worrying is  _ exhausting. _

"You know what I mean, Number Four." Oops, breaking out the numbers, Yeesh. 

Klaus winces. "Fine, fine. Won't your girlfriend mind? " he asks, not 'cause he cares but because he feels like it might make Diego's life harder and Klaus isn't feeling too charitable right now 

“Eudora’s always been fond of strays.” 

By the time they reach Diego's place, Klaus is pretty much out of it. He gets the impression of someone man-handling him out of the car, and when he proves to be too unwieldy, Diego just ends up carrying him up a flight of stairs, grunting and cursing all the way. Honestly, Klaus haven't heard a better lullaby. 

Somehow, they end up inside the apartment without either of them breaking their necks, it's super. 

"Diego?" A woman, Eudora, calls out. 

Diego doesn't answer, there is shuffling before Diego makes a shush sound and Klaus is deposited onto a lumpy couch. Deceptively gentle. The footsteps disappear and a few seconds later, they return. She drapes a heavy blanket on him. 

Klaus makes a delighted little sound and burrows himself deeper into the warmth, the last thing he clearly remembers, is how nice it feels, being cared for. 

  
  
  


He wakes up with a scream lodged in his throat, the beat, beat, beating of his heart like a fucking drum, the echoes of his nightmare following through, voices full of anger and pain and anguish, his body feels heavy and distant, like he’s not fully in control and he hates that feeling, the disconect. 

He isn’t sure what woke him up, his nightmare -for it must have been a nightmare- or something else, but he is sore and sweaty and vaguely disgusting, the room is bathed in light and it takes him a second to remember that Diego has taken him to his place. 

Klaus straightens on the couch and looks around, the apartment is a modest one, but warmly decorated and obviously cared for. Honestly , it’s neater -and cleaner- than anywhere Klaus has set foot in since the academy days. 

The small living room has a kitchen attached and opposite to him is a short hallway with two doors, he can’t hear anything from inside the rooms so he stands up and wraps the blanket around him like a toga and gives the place a cursory look.

“They left you a note.” Ben says, pointing at the fridge, he’s lying on the counter doing his best impression of the dead, a pretty sucky imitation, which is hilarious, ‘cause he  _ is  _ dead. 

Klaus hums and shuffles towards the kitchen. The note was written on a yellow sticky note, it said, ‘We’ll be back by 4p.m. Make yourself at home :) ‘ 

“Make yourself at home, huh.” He mutters to himself with a huff of laughter, “Oh, she really shouldn’t have said that.”

“Behave, Klaus.”Ben says, not bothering to open his eyes. 

“Hey! I always behave.” He cries out, betrayed. 

“Mhm.” Ben hums, not in agreement, but acknowledgment. 

Rude.

Klaus sniffs in annoyance and catches a whiff of himself, he mimes gagging and makes his way towards the rooms in the back, one of them will be a bathroom and he can’t wait to take advantage of their hot water. 

The first door he opens is the bedroom, he goes to close it, but then he catches sight of the clothes strewn on the bed. 

They probably wouldn’t mind if he borrowed some change, they did say to make himself at home. 

He opens the closet, Diego’s side is as drab and vaguely kinky as he imagined it would be, lots of black, lots of turtlenecks, an obscene amount of leather, like, he’s not one to kink-shame but man, Diego’s got some issues. 

Eudora’s side, now that’s where the real gems are, he settles on a comfy looking pair of yoga pants, they’re white and lavender and absolutely adorable, looking around, he finds a grey sweater that would match. 

He bundles the clothes and tries the other door. 

Bingo.

Disappointingly, they do not have a bathtub. The bathroom is a bit cramped but clean, and that seems like heaven for someone used to public bathrooms. He shucks his clothes and climbs into the shower, the hot water is heaven on his skin, he lets out a loud groan and runs his fingers through his hair, he almost forgot how nice a shower could feel. 

He stays under the spray until the warm water runs out. He dries himself and puts on the clean clothes, looking at himself in the mirror, he gives an impressed whistle. He looks  _ nice. _ not showing as much skin as he's used too, but damn those pants makes his ass look  _ fine.  _

He gathers his clothes into a pile and kicks them into a corner and makes his way towards the kitchen, where Ben is still pretending to sleep on the counter.

"What should we eat, Benny-boy?" He says.

"They left you a plate in the stove, eggs and bacon." He says 

Oh.

That's sweet.

For some reason the little gesture made his eyes burn a bit, that is very thoughtful, he doesn't think anyone has done something that nice to him before. He sniffles. 

“Are you  _ crying?” _ Ben says incredulously, peeking at him with one eye open.

“No. Shut up. Makeup ran into my eye.” He says all while shoveling -fucking delicious- eggs in his mouth. 

“If you say so.” 

Once that is done, Klaus settles on the counter, through Ben’s legs. Ben sends him an annoyed look and promptly retracts his legs from under? him. 

The apartment is quiet and empty of ghosts -but Ben- the clothes are comfortable and the food is great. 

It’s good. 

Life is good. He thinks it with a happy little sigh.

“Jemma wanted to see you today.” Ben says.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot, she said something about a co-worker’s son, she wants me to take a look at him or something.” He says and can’t hide how pleased he is at the concept.

Being needed, sought out. How cool is that?

“If you go now, we could probably be back before they’re back.” Ben says finally opening his eyes and stretching his limbs. Why would you stretch if you’re not physical? 

That sounds like a good idea, he’s not too good at being idle for too long, he gets jittery and a sense of urgency sets over him, like there’s something he’s supposed to be doing. An itch that needs scratching.

He jumps up to his feet and goes to the front door, he doesn’t bother with his coat or his clothes, he’ll be back soon, Klaus will probably stay with Diego until he’s overtly kicked out. 

Ben follows him, he’s always excited when Klaus goes around doing his healing thing, Klaus thinks it’s because his brother likes seeing other people happy, and maybe to him, when Klaus is the reason for their happiness, it feels like he’s doing it by proxy. 

He’s walking towards Jemma and Lu’s place, humming to himself and taking shortcuts through alleys and generally enjoying the bite of the cold on his skin, when he hears something behind him, he looks besides him and doesn’t get much further than that because something heavy slams into the back of his head, the last thing he hears before he blacks out is Ben crying out, “Klaus!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the plot thickens! (what plot there was, anyway XD )   
> So what do you guys think? I'm thinking of shifting POVs the next chapter, yay or nay?  
> -sevansa


	6. VI

Anger has always been a familiar emotion for Diego, In fact, it is so familiar that it’s presence is a cold comfort, he’s been angry for so very long that for a while, it was the only emotion he could positively identify. 

Emotions are very hard for Diego, but lately- lately life has been taking a turn for the better. 

He’s enrolled in the police academy, and he’s met an amazing woman, Eudora is such a positive influence in his life that sometimes he’s floored by the fact that he survived this long without her in it. 

Gradually, the repertoire of emotions he’s familiar with started expanding to include positive ones, Happiness, like a burst of champagne on his tongue. Hope, bright and burning. Love, with all its overwhelming intensity for Eudora, for his life.

He is happy, and content, for the first time in... ever.

He might have been happy at the academy, sometimes, when he was with his mother, he loves her, he does, he knows that, she’s the only person in that house that he genuinely misses. He thinks what he feels for his siblings is love, but if it is, It is a dull love, one that is mostly out of duty and familiarity, he’d help them if they asked but he wouldn’t spend time with them willingly. 

And he’s happy with how his life is going, the past in the past and firmly segregated from his new, present life. 

And then he sees Klaus, that one morning, and it feels like someone’s punched him in the gut.

His brother looks  _ rough. _

Not rough as in went two rounds with a brick wall rough, but rough as in life is systematically screwing him over rough. 

He is too thin and his cheeks are sunken, bloodshot eyes and smudged eyeliner, his clothes -what little of them there is- are rumpled and glittery, and is that  _ blood _ under his nails? 

He is supposed to be worried, he thinks, he’s not. 

Instead, there is panic, cold and irrational, he  _ can’t _ let his brother meet Eudora.

He  _ can’t  _ let that happen. 

If it did- If the two of them met, if Eudora found out what sort of fuck up he actually is…

He doesn’t think he’d bare the look in her eyes.

He  _ can’t let that happen.  _

But Klaus steps back and Diego is left standing there, ashamed. Of himself, of his brother, of their whole fucking  _ family.  _

Fuck it.

The Fuck is wrong with him? that’s his  _ brother.  _ The least he can do is pretend to be happy to see him.

Eudora, bless her, saves the situation and they end up getting breakfast together. 

 

‘Course Diego fucks it up.

He’s not even remotely surprised that he’s managed to put his foot in his mouth so thoroughly that even  _ Klaus,  _ who’s remarkably thick-skinned, gets hurt. 

He doesn’t even storm off (which is somehow worse) he stands on unsteady legs and stumbles off, eyes averted and hands shaking, leaving behind plates half filled with food, one of them placed for  _ Ben.  _

Ben who is  _ dead _ . Ben who Klaus has been constantly talking to, it is only now that Diego considers the fact that his brother might not have been doing that for attention. How fucked up is that?

“Really, Diego?” Eudora says. 

Diego groans and lets his head fall on the table with a loud thud. 

“Let’s not do this here, please.”He hears himself saying, Very aware of the fact that almost everyone in the diner is side-eyeing them. 

Diego stands up, throwing some money on the table, he stalks out of the diner with Eudora hot on his heels, she’s demanding answers and firing questions, but Diego is not fully with her, his mind is stuck on the betrayed look in his brother’s eyes, the things he said to him, when his brother already looked so  _ exhausted _ , Say what you want about Diego but he’s not of the habit of kicking people when they’re already down.

Not to mention that now- now he has to tell Eudora about the academy.

Fuck.

He doesn’t really have to, right? 

One look at her face, tight lips and drawn brows tells him that there is no getting out of that one.

Lovely. 

Somehow, they make it back to the apartment, Eudora has fallen silent and instead kept pace with him, shoulder-to-shoulder, it’s comforting. 

He goes to the kitchen, puts on a pot of coffee, wait until both steaming cups are in front of them.

The clock ticks in the corner.

“Talk to me, Diego.” She says, voice gentle in a way that he rarely hears outside of their apartment. 

He licks his lips, thinking about how he’s supposed to start this, how do you start telling your significant other about your fucked-up childhood?  He imagined this conversation a million times before, somehow, he can’t remember how any of them went. 

He dives in, head first.

“Remember the Umbrella Academy?”

She blinks, frowning at the non-sequitur. “Yeah, I mean, everyone knows about them, I wasn’t much of a fan, what about it?”

Diego just looks at her, right in the eye and lets the silence linger. 

He watches as the realization slowly dawns on her, Eudora’s eyes widen, she leans back in her chair. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” 

And Diego smiles, ‘cause it is funny. He’d find it funny, if it was happening to someone else. 

“Number Two, The Kraken, at your service.” He says with a mock bow of his head. 

The clock keeps ticking.

The silence is making him nervous, silence always meant something bad is gonna happen.

“Uh- Eudora? Say something?” Diego says, voice shaking. Like what is the proper response to finding out your boyfriend of almost a year had a childhood moonlighting as a superhero?

“Number Two?”  she asks, out of anything she could have asked- that’s what she asked.

“Uh- My legal name, before Mom chose Diego.” He says, confused but willing to answer all her questions. Anything to make sure she won’t decide she’s better off without him. 

“Your name was  _ Number Two? _ ” She repeats again, something rough in her voice.

“Klaus is Number Four.” He adds, as if that might make it better. 

Eudora grimaces. “That’s horrible.” she whispers

He shrugs, objectively, he knows that calling children by numbers instead of names is a fucking awful thing to do, but-

“It is what it is.” He says.

Eudora is still giving him that look, wide eyed and vaguely wet. She blinks rapidly, looking down, clearing her throat.

“That doesn’t make it better.”

Diego shrugs.

“Is that why you never talk about them?” she asks, earnestly. 

And he could take the easy way out, agree with her, that talking about his family is too traumatizing, and that would be that. 

Diego grimaces at himself. No, Eudora deserves better than that from him. 

So he takes a deep breath, holds it (and he knows he can keep holding it, keep it in and in and everything else out) he exhales. 

“That’s- That’s complicated, Eudora, I haven’t spoken to any of them since I left home and that was like five years ago. Our father was a bastard. He treated us like foot-soldiers, he- he pitted us against each other, to urge us to do better or whatever. And then shit hit the fan in the worst possible way- so we all escaped in our own ways.” He’s not looking at her, he hears her chair scrape and for a wild second he thinks she’s going away, leaving him alone, that she’s had enough with his shit. That she’s done.

But she is right next to him, her arms around him, Diego sighs gratefully, with the adrenaline abating, he feels boneless, he sinks into her arms and buries his face in her neck. She smells so good.

Eudora places a kiss on the crown of his head, so unbearably soft.  

They stay like that for who knows how long before Eudora stands up, groaning “Let’s move this to the couch?” She says, a sheepish smile on her face. 

Diego laughs, a brief, pleased thing. “Yeah.”

  
  
  


He Keeps an eye out for Klaus, after that.

Suddenly he’s very much aware that he knows almost nothing about his siblings, what he knows, is that they’re out there in the world, alone, that they could be in trouble and they don’t feel comfortable enough going to any of the others for help. 

He knows Luther is still in the house, so that’s one he doesn't have to worry about. 

Allison is off living her best life as a Hollywood starlet. That’s another one he shouldn’t worry about.

Four and Seven though. 

Vanya- he knows she lives in the city… he should probably pay her a visit, check up on her, make sure she knows he’s available for help, if she needs any.

Four though- Four looked bad. 

He needs to find Klaus. 

And as if the universe is conspiring against him, he doesn’t catch wind of anyone matching Klaus’s description.  

It is frustrating, and makes him wonder if his brother is somehow aware of Diego’s efforts and circumventing them somehow. 

He does come across mentions of a man who helps people out in exchange for drugs or food, it sounds like the sort of good-Samaritan shit that tends to take a turn for the terrible, so he keeps an ear open for any other words about that man. 

The more he hears about him,  the more he’s sure that he’s an urban legend, something taken out of context and exaggerated until there is nothing remotely truthful to the whole thing.

Supposedly, the man is either a saint, some kind of prophet, an angel in human form, someone who can perform miracles, or the devil personified. 

...The definition varies from one person to the next. 

but the people who’ve (supposedly) met him, are nothing but grateful. 

The  _ stories  _ they tell.

Diego gathers them just ‘cause they amuse Eudora to no end.

Diego is sitting in a bar, when he hears a man talking.

“He performs  _ miracles.  _ He touches you, just one touch, and anything wrong with you is gone! Just like that!” the man says making a ‘whoosh’ sound. “-I went to him after the fight with whats-his-face, Bitch broke a rib or something- and he healed it! Not only that, my knee, you know it’s always giving me trouble, now nothing! Feels better than new!”The man says rapping his knuckles against said knee, the man’s companions, share a look, obviously disbelieving. 

“Don’t believe me, but next time one of you’s too broke to go to the hospital, remember my words.” The man says throwing back his drink.

Diego rolls his eyes. 

Thing is, he hears variations of similar stories, different people, different situations, but all of a man healing people with one touch.

It all feels too  _ Harry Potter-esque  _ to him.

He decides to not give the stories much thought, they’re amusing enough , but obviously fake.

And then.

Then.

He sees Klaus in a fucking Vet’s office, doing whatever the hell it was he did with the animals in bursts of blue and smoke. 

What the hell.

And suddenly the stories make a lot more sense, a weird-dude that heals people as long as he gets something in return, anything really, be it food or drugs or a shiny little trinket. 

_ Klaus is the mystery healer.  _

That- makes an odd amount of sense, Klaus has never, ever, been predictable. He doesn’t have a predictable bone in his body. 

And as if he hasn’t had enough reality-slaps that day, he finds out that their bastard of a father stopped sending Klaus his royalties. 

Fuck the man. He knows, the same as they all do, that Klaus won’t be able to hold a steady job, the man was all but willing to condemn his son to death, Diego is not sure why he’s so surprised, It’s after all par for the course.

And Ben.

Ben…

There is only so much Diego is able to deal with in a single evening, so when Klaus passes out, giggling to himself like a loon, Diego is grateful, He needs time to decompress. To talk with Eudora, she’s got a knack for making everything sound so simple, so organized.

He needs that.

He parks the car, and tries to get Klaus out without jostling him too much. Thing is, the man barely weighs anything, but he is all angles and it’s hard to maneuver someone who’s almost as tall as him,so after struggling with him for a couple of seconds, he ends up carrying him up bridal style- yeah, he’s never mentioning this to anyone. 

Ever.

He tries to sneak in and not wake Eudora, both to be considerate and to well...avoid the grin she’s gonna send him for months to come.

He’s out of luck. Obviously. 

Eudora sees him, She tries to hide the grin, but he sees it clear as day, that definitely will reignite the ‘Maybe you’re bi’ conversations… he is not looking forward to that one. 

She helps settle Klaus in for the night. 

Once that’s done, they retreat to their bedroom, where Eudora’s side is already a mess, she must have already been in bed.

“Sorry ‘bout that.” He says, gesturing towards the bed. 

She rolls her eyes at him and waits until he’s shucked his clothing and settled on his side before she rolls around so that she’s lying on his chest, hands buried in his hair, lips barely a breath apart.

“Hey.” He says, smirking.

“Hey yourself.” she says the words a warm puff against his lips that makes him shiver, he places his hands on her back, under her shirt, enjoying the feel of warm, smooth skin beneath his fingers. 

She places a kiss on his lips, barely a peck. And then another, and another, and another. 

Diego growls softly and flips them over, Eudora lets out a delighted huff as he starts kissing her properly, deepening the kiss, he takes her lower lip in his mouth and sucks, she moans lowly, running her nails through his scalp softly, a reminder. 

Eudora breaks the kiss to mouth at his throat, biting softly and running her hands all over his back, scratching over the well sculpted shoulders. Diego goes to remover her shirt but Eudora stops him. 

He looks at her, suddenly worried he’d done something wrong, but her brown eyes are warm and amused. 

“We are not having sex when your brother is in the next room.” She says. 

“Oh, come on.” Diego whines (he doesn’t). “We can be quiet.” He says, smiling a roguish smile that he knows Eudora loves. 

She rolls her eyes. “Really?” she says. 

Diego flushes. 

Defeated, he sighs, rolling off so that he’s not straddling her anymore. Eudora moves closer and he wraps an arm around her. She places a kiss on his jaw and makes herself comfortable using his chest as a pillow. They stay like this for a while, Diego is still trying to calm down when Eudora breaks the silence. 

“So what happened?”

And just like that- any sort of arousal is extinguished under the weight of the day’s events.

“Klaus is fucked-up Eudora.” He says.

“ _ Hey.”  _

“No- I mean-” But the words are not coming how he wants them to, how to explain Klaus? how to explain the fact that he’s been high since he was 13 and practically no one cared? that apparently he’s somehow been surviving on the street since he was 20,  _ fuck.   _ And now what? He gets healing powers and he starts whoring them out for drugs? What the fuck.

“He has no where to stay.” He ends up saying. 

And Eudora is quiet for a bit but she says “He can stay here.” like it’s the easiest thing in the world. 

And if he kisses her like she’s the oxygen he breathes. Well, no one can blame him. 

  
  


They wake up early and do their best to get ready quietly as to not wake Klaus up. In the end, it doesn’t even matter, ‘cause Klaus is Knackered, he’s wrapped up in the blanket so snuggly and sleeping so soundly, Diego is sure a herd of stampeding elephants wouldn’t be enough to wake him. Diego smiles at the sight fondly and cooks them breakfast, he places a dish in the stove for Klaus, Eudora writes a note, and off they go.

“We need to have an actual conversation about all this soon.” Eudora says. 

And Diego nods, he knows he should tell her- well, not  _ everything _ \- but at least enough about Klaus, about the family, about himself, that she wouldn’t be blindsided by anything they say, especially if Klaus will stay with them for a while. 

“When we get back, we’ll order Chinese and talk about everything, Klaus should be there for that.” He says. 

“Deal.”

 

‘Course, the evening comes and none of that happens.

‘Cause Klaus...Klaus is not there. 

Diego checks the whole apartment, and when it’s clear that he’s nowhere to be seen, he rubs his eyes, suddenly so  _ exhausted.  _

“For fucks sake, Klaus.” 

He’s not sure why he’s so disappointed. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeey guys XD   
> Sorry for the long wait, I know this one is like, super late. I'm sorry, but this week has been so busy for me it felt like everyone I knew decided that we need to meet up, like now, and I've been busy looking for clinics nearby that take on trainees, it sucks.   
> So yeah, here's a super long Diego chapter, I really wanted to show you guys what happened to Klaus but it just didn't fit in well, next chapter would probably also be another Diego chapter, but we'll see :)   
> SO! Don't forget to leave a comment telling me what you thought!   
> Love you all <3   
> -sevansa


	7. VII

Diego is not brooding.

Regardless of whatever Eudora says, Diego does not  _ brood.  _

But there he is, sitting in a shadowed corner of their building’s roof, the police scanner whining beside him as he tries to catch any word of something that would benefit with his interference. 

Wednesday night is a very calm one. 

He shifts, fingers running over the shaft of one of his knives, testing it’s balance, over and over and over. 

He should have gone out with Eudora and Beeman to the bar, he thinks with a tired sigh.

He lets his head hit the wall he’s leaning on, hard. The sharp burst of pain is grounding, but in no way useful. 

He’d gone over the apartment with Eudora looking for some sort of note from his brother, but other than a polished plate of food left in the sink, there was nothing-

Or, well, not  _ nothing _ , Precisely. 

Klaus had left a pile of his clothes on their floor, and  _ that, _ that is what’s driving Diego _ crazy _ . 

‘Cause every single one of them is incredibly possessive of the things that they own, probably stemming from a childhood where the weren’t allowed many personal objects. Personal objects build sentimentality, and sentimentality is weakness…

Yeah, they’re fucked-up. 

So, there is no way, no fucking way Klaus would just leave some of the few things he owns without a second thought, not if he didn’t plan on returning for them soon. 

 But the evening has come and gone and night has fallen and nothing. Not a word. 

So there he is, listening to the police scanner and fighting the urge to go wander the streets aimlessly in search of his brother. 

He could be in trouble for all he knows.

Maybe that’s why he hasn’t come back yet.

Klaus can take care of himself though...probably.

Remembering the way his brother looked when he first saw him, Diego groans, yeah, no. 

He grips the knife tighter and fights the urge to throw it at any moving target.

He should have gone out for that drink.

Diego stands up abruptly.

Enough is enough, he needs to do something, fucking anything. He needs concrete proof that Klaus is alright, that he’d just snuck out for a hit and is lying down getting high or getting fucked or whatever it is his brother spent time doing. 

But... he can’t. 

So he does the next best thing he can. And that is to check on the only other sibling he could actually stand. 

Vanya lives a twenty minute ride away in a second floor apartment, close to the local theater. 

And before he could talk himself out of it, of how ridiculous it is to just show up at his sister’s place unannounced, he knocks on the door. 

There is a second of silence where any sound inside just disappears, and an unnatural stillness fills the place. 

Diego knocks again, and he hears shuffling before the door opens a tiny crack, Vanya’s body shielded away. 

Diego gives her a sheepish smile.

Vanya’s eyes widen behind the door, and opens it wider. “Diego?!”

“Hey, sis.” 

  
  


Vanya is puttering about in her kitchen trying to find something for them to drink. Diego would tell her not to bother, but it seems to calm her down a bit, she keeps sending him uncertain, furtive glances every couple of seconds, and it’s making Diego’s heart ache in a way he’s not very used to.

So he does them both a favor and tries not to push Vanya too much with any scrutiny. She’s never done well with any sort of attention, always flinching away and curling in on herself, hiding behind her bangs. 

She outgrew the bangs. 

He wanders around the tight living space, it’s a pretty decent apartment, all things considered. 

There is a type-writer on the table, a paper in the machine, but the page is blank. 

“You’re writing?” He asks, trying to dispel the awkwardness. 

Vanya glances back, a startled look in her eyes. And if anything, the awkward increases ten-fold. “Uh- that’s the plan.” She says softly, ducking her head and concentrating on pouring the water. 

Diego hums. “What about.” he continues, undaunted. 

Vanya seems to flinch a little but she says. “I’m not sure yet.” without turning around. 

It sounds like a lie. Diego doesn’t push it. 

The silence is bad. The kind of silence that falls between people who only just peripherally  know each other, with absolutely nothing in common. 

What do they even have in common? A fucked-up family? Numbers for names? 

They don’t even have super powers to bond over. 

Vanya comes back with a two mugs of hot chocolate, she gives one to Diego and clutches the other between two hands. 

“Thanks.” He says. 

She nods and takes a step back. 

They stand looking at each other. 

“H-how’s the Violin?” He tries again. 

“It’s fine.”

A car Honks outside.

The sheer awkwardness of the moment was going to choke him alive, he’ll literally choke on the awkward and then Klaus will never let him live it down.

 Vanya licks her lips and send a small fleeting look to Diego, she seems to be bracing herself "so, did you uh-need anything?" As soon as the words escape, she winces. 

Diego sighs. Yeah he deserves that. 

He rubs roughly at his face and when he feels like he’s a tiny bit ready to have this conversation he lowers his hands. “Not exactly. I just- I needed to make sure you were okay. You are okay? Right?” He can’t help but ask in the end. 

Vanya blinks, looking a bit lost, she opens her mouth, closes it again, as if rethinking her reply. 

“Um sure, yeah, i’m alright… are- are  _ you  _ okay?” She asks, eyebrows drawn in slight worry. “Did something happen?” She asks, and now comes closer, she lies a tentative hand on his arm, gives a gentle squeeze and lets it fall again.

“No- not really. Just- have you seen Klaus lately?” He asks.

“Klaus? No. not since- the academy.” She says and now she sounds worried. “Is he okay?” 

Diego swallows, so Klaus really hadn’t been in contact with any of them. “I think so? I’m not sure. Just- if you happen to hear from him tell me?” 

Vanya looks bewildered but she says sure and motions for his phone, an unfamiliar determined look graces her face. he gives it to her and watches as she programs her number in and send herself a text. 

“There.” She says, smiling a little. “And you’ll text me later?” She adds and it sounds a bit hopeful. 

“Sure, sis.” He says, something loosening in his chest. Yeah . he’s not going to ruin this. 

After that, the visit, while short and to the point, is less awkward, it ends with Diego repeating that Vanya shouldn’t hesitate to call him for anything, and maybe they should meet up later?

Vanya keeps looking at him like she’d woken up in an alternate universe and it makes Diego feel a little shitty, but it feels- it feels... _ right. _

  
  


**

  
  


Klaus comes to in stages, and then all at once.

He’s aware of the pounding in his head that has nothing to do with a hangover and everything to do withdrawals. He groans and tries to shift-

Key word here is try.

Klaus stills, panic gripping his throat. A strangled noise escapes him.

He’s lying on a bed with his hands cuffed to the rails, his legs are cuffed too. And don’t get him wrong, Klaus is no stranger to kinky shit, getting tied up isn’t something that’s exactly forgein to him. 

Normally , he wouldn’t panic. 

Normally, he’d have an idea of what the actual _ fuck _ is going on. 

He strains his ears, but there’s nothing. 

Klaus shivers, fear starting to trickle through, he can’t hear anything, can’t sense anyone around him, he should keep pretending to be unconscious, but the not knowing is making him jittery. He opens his eyes and is greeted with a wall of grey. 

Grey walls. Grey floor. Grey ceiling. His breathing is coming out in fast gasps, he pulls at his bindings, hard. The metal bites into his skin and he feels no give. 

What the fuck? Holy shit, he is not ready to die. He doesn’t want to die in someone’s creepy sex dungeon. 

"-aus, Klaus, Klaus!" 

"Holy fucking shit  _ Ben  _ where the fuck am I?" 

"Shh" Ben hisses at him, he's straddling Klaus and giving him  this serious intense look. "The room is bugged, so don’t say anything, I'll talk you listen. Blink twice if you understand." 

Now, now Klaus is pretty much terrified.

He blinks twice.

Ben's lips twitch in a fleeting smile. "Good. Look I'm not gonna lie-" 

"Ah, so you're finally awake Number Four." 

Klaus's eyes widen and Ben winces. 

"Fucking seriously?" Klaus hisses, wriggling viciously and trying to catch sight of their bastard of a father. 

"Language, Number Four." 

"Oh fuck you. You know if you wanted a reunion so bad, you could’ve just called me.” Klaus says when Reginald finally came into his field of vision. 

He consciously relaxes into his bindings and feigns nonchalance, Ben gets off the bed and stands beside Klaus, near enough that he feels the cold radiating off him. 

Reginald looks as distant and unforgiving as he always did and that was comforting in a twisted sort of way. 

Reginald doesn’t answer but he comes closer and reaches out to Klaus’s face. Klaus flinches back , but he barely has any room to move, Reginald is cupping his face and moving his head this way and that, peering into his eyes and frowning. Hand running through his hair and for a wild moment Klaus thinks the man is comforting him, and then it becomes obvious that he’s feeling the skin for bumps. What the actual Fuck?

“Fascinating-” He says.

Klaus tries to pull away, beyond uncomfortable., but the man’s grip is solid. “Uh- I mean I know i’m pretty but man-”

“-The healing occurs even when the host is unconscious.” Reginald mutters to himself, leaning back and taking out a pen from his breast pocket, writing something in one of those goddamn notebooks.

Klaus takes in a panicked inhale of breath , his eyes darting to Ben’s own wide ones. 

“Uh- healing? What healing?” He says with a strangled little laugh. 

Ben groans.

Reginald frowns. “I’ve heard whispers of a man with healing powers, imagine my surprise Number Four, when I found out it was you. Fascinating really. I always did say that you’ve barely scratched the surface of your potential.” The man says leaning back.

“Well, that’s great and all, but can you, uh, let me go?” Klaus says, smiling his most innocent smile and pulling at the cuffs making them clink. 

Reginald ignores him, and then proceeds with hooking him up with sensors, Klaus wriggles, trying to make it as difficult as possible for the man. 

Reginald frowns, and it is pure Pavlovian response that makes Klaus still, and he hates himself a little for that. 

Once the sensors are secure. Reginald moves to leave the grey, grey, room. Klaus’s panic ratchets up a notch. “Uh- Dad, aren’t you forgetting something?” Klaus says, voice high and unsteady. 

The man doesn’t even look back.

Fuck. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! I want to make it clear that there will be no character bashing in this fic, or any of my future fics! That said, thank you so much guys for your kind comments! i'm glad you're enjoying this, Also a chapter per week might be the new updating schedule!   
> Don't forget to tell me what you guys thought though! and thanks <3   
> -sevansa


	8. VIII

 

Captivity is surprisingly boring. 

Don’t get him wrong, The first hour or so was beyond terrifying, what with all the wires and beeping and waiting for Reginald to jump him with a scalpel and deranged laughter and whatever the fuck unrealistic scenario his mind came up with, but after the first spikes of anxiety whenever he thought he heard something move, it lost some of its intensity. 

Ben is pacing the perimeter of the room, coming in and out of his vision in measured intervals. 

“There’s nothing here.” He mutters irritably. 

Except for a fucking heavy metal door that even if Ben was corporel he wouldn’t be able to open. 

He’s not sure how long he’s been here for, or how long he’ll be here for, but he’s got an IV in his arm and going by the extremely disquieting feeling, a catheter is involved as well, which probably means that Reginald isn’t planning on letting him out any time soon.

 And fuck, that’s creepy, he hopes it wasn’t his dad who inserted the catheter, (‘cause that’s the important thing right now.)

That’s just- nope. 

Klaus groans and tries to shift, he’s getting twitchy and the more time he spends on his back with nothing to do, the worse it gets, his skin feels tight and there is an itch on his nose that he can’t scratch and it is driving him  _crazy._

“So where exactly are we?” Klaus asks conversely, trying to distract himself from the discomfort. 

Withdrawals haven’t even started yet, but the mere knowledge that he won’t be able to take his next dose when he needs it, sends his heart careening in panic. At least the spikes of his heartbeat keeps the monitor beeping interesting.

Silver linings!

 “The academy” Ben says distractedly, crouching in front of the bed and checking the restraint. 

“Those are heavy duty.” He says and he sounds a bit impressed.

“Dude.” 

“Sorry.” Ben says, shrugging. “Imma go check outside, okay?”

 

“No!” He cries out, and Ben reels back, before floating closer to him one hand outstretched, There is an instant panic that makes its way across his body at the thought of being completely alone in this place, the thought that if Ben went now, he’ll never see him again. 

That he would be all alone. 

The monitor screeches in alarm and Klaus flinches, that’s stupid, he takes a deep breath and tries to calm himslef. “Uh- Sorry, go ahead, don’t take too long.” He says, affecting calm.

If it wasn't for the elevated heartbeats, it would be the perfect impression. 

Ben doesn’t look fooled. In fact he looks sympathetic, he places a hand on klaus’s head and Klaus gets the impression of ruffling hair, he sends his brother a small smile to show that he got it. Ben bites his lips. 

“I’ll be back soon.” He says, reassuring. 

And now Klaus is alone.

It’s fine. It’s cool. 

Was his breath always this loud? 

The beeping is very annoying, how do people spend time in hospitals without going stir crazy? Those poor people.

He really wants to stand up, his muscles feel sore. 

What was that?

Was there someone pacing outside?

No. 

Nothing.

It’s fine. 

“I’m fine.” He says out loud, nodding, assuring himself. 

Was he always such a terrible liar? 

“You know, dad, you can let me out, I’ll be good.” He says, aiming his most innocent look to where he assumes the camera is. 

He knows though, no amount of cajoling or begging would make Reginald go back on what he’s planning. 

At least it’s not a mausoleum, he thinks with a shudder.

He’ll take empty grey walls over dead bodies all the time, thank you very much.

The door creaks and this time is not his imagination. 

Klaus’s breathe hitches. “Ben?”He asks, even when he knows that it’s not possible, Ben can’t interact with objects. 

“Um- no?” And the hesitant voice belongs to-

Round of applause, people.

Luther.

 

Luther hangs awkwardly at the edge of Klaus’s vision, looking a bit like a puppy who’d just been scolded, for such a powerful guy, he could be a bit pathetic sometimes. 

Klaus rolls his eyes.

“Ain’t you gonna come in, big guy?” He asks, and tries to ignore the fact that he feels calmer now that there’s someone in the room with him.

“Sorry.” Luther blurts out, and it is clear he isn’t talking about the lurking.

Klaus frowns for a second trying to put the apology into context, when it hits him, (pun totally intended.) 

“You hit me!” He accuses, voice coming out shriller than he intended, Luther winces but sits down on the foot of the bed anyway. 

“Yeah. sorry. I didn’t really mean to hit you that hard.”

“You could have just not done it.” Klaus says bitterly, wishing to high heavens that he had something to do with his hands, that he could flounce around the room, anything but this stifling stillness, all the while sending death glares at his  _traitor_ brother.

“Dad said it was a mission!” Luther says hotly, as if that was a decent excuse.

“Jesus Number One! If dad told you to jump off a bridge would you?” Klaus says, half-joking.

There is a loaded second of silence and Klaus takes one look at his brothers face and winces, Dude’s a piece of work, he’s actually  _thinking about it._ “Seriously?!” He demands incredulously. 

Luther shrugs, not looking all that worried about it. “Dad won’t tell me to do something if it isn’t important.”

And god, it must be so comforting being Number One, and being so secure in the knowledge that their father wouldn’t steer him wrong. 

“Oh yeah? And what’s so important about me that he sent you to  _assault_ me?”

Luther winces. “I’m really sorry, are you okay?” he says ignoring the question completely.

Klaus scowls at him, angry at the assault, the dismissal, but Luther probably doesn’t even know what Reginald wants Klaus for, He looks at Luther who’s looking at him with genuine regret in his eyes, regret that he hurt him, not that he dragged him to a weird-ass room against his will. 

“You can make it up to me.” Klaus says, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “I’m all tied up and everything.”

“I’m not going to get you out of here.” Luther says, frowning.

“Uh-That was not-” Klaus says, stumped, did his flirting always go over Luther’s head? He forgets.

Luther looks confused, poor man. “You know what big guy, sure I was asking you to let me go.”

“No can do, Number Four. Dad’s orders.” He says and somehow looks happy about it. 

That bitch.

Why would he be happy that Klaus is in this weirdass situation in the first place? He doesn’t think his relationship with Luther is so bad to warrant viciousness. He doesn’t  _have_ a relationship with Luther, that was more Three’s forte. 

But, Luther doesn’t look vicious, he doesn’t look in anyway smug, he just looks- happy.  

And it is then that it hits Klaus, Luther is  _lonely._

Anyone would be fucking lonely if their whole life comprised of three people one of which is an Ape and the other a robot and the third an emotionless asshole. 

“Don’t you ever think about leaving here?” Klaus blurts out. 

And it must have been so out of nowhere ‘cause Luther reels back, “Why would I do that?” he says and it is a bit aggressive, defensive.

It isn’t a no though, There is a spark of hope, tiny and fragile filling him,  a semblance of a plan starts forming itself in the back of his mind.

Maybe... 

“Well-”

He didn’t even get to finish the words, the foundations to his (not really a) plan, when the door opens again. 

This time it is a far less friendly? Face.

Reginald stands in the doorway  and sends the both of then an inscrutable look, Luther instantly stands at attention, the perfect little soldier. 

“Go see to your training, Number One.” 

“Sir.” Luther all but saluts and starts to walk away, but Klaus uses what little leverage he has and clutches at Luther’s arm, please don’t leave him alone with Reginald.

There is a spike in the monitor that gives away how much the whole situation scares the ever living fuck out of him, and Luther looks back genuine regret in his eyes, he pulls his hand away ‘sorry.’ he mouths. But not sorry enough to let him go apparently. He thinks viciously, despairingly.  trying not to look at Reginald.

Klaus keeps his head turned, tries to calm his beat-beat-beating heart and lets the silence hang over them. 

“This will go much smoother if you cooperate, Number Four.” The man says.

And the kicker here, the man doesn’t look vicious, he doesn’t look like a deranged scientist, he looks like a man on a mission… somehow that’s much scarier. 

“With what?” He asks, voice wavering. Keep the man talking, if he’s talking he’s not experimenting, a little voice in the back of his head whispers. 

But Reginald is placing a briefcase on one of the metal tables opening the latches and not answering, a clipboard lays neatly to the side, a pen already uncapped and ready to jot the notes. 

Reginald gets a scalpel out of its leather case, and if he was panicking before, its nothing on what he’s feeling now, his hands are shaking, they’re  _shaking,_ and he’s trying to scoot as far away from the man as possible. “ What are you going to do with that?” He asks and hates how thready he sounds.

Reginald doesn’t even look at him, he takes one of klaus’s hands and turns it around. “Data needs to be collected on the effect of sobriety on your healing factor.” 

“Please-” Klaus pleads, and it is so low, barely a whisper, his eyes are blurring, the fear is making it hard to move.

The scalpel presses on the skin on his palm, and the pain is not terrible, he could take it, but he screams anyway, he screams loud and terrified and a tiny bit pained, he tries to pull his hand away but the grip turns hard, he can’t pull away- can’t-

The amount of noise in the room doesn’t seem to be bothering the man in the least, in fact he’s still looking at the wound, alternating between the shallow cut and a stopwatch. 

“A full minute.” The man says and he doesn’t sound pleased. “For a cut this shallow, not acceptable.” He says. 

His breathing is coming out in ragged gasps, eyes blurry with tears because he doesn’t  _know_ how far this will go, because he’s alone, and the people who know he’s here are ones who will not help him, and there is no one on the outside who will miss him, no one that will notice him gone, and he will die here, a collateral to Reginald’s scientific curiosity and  _no one will ever know._

Please, please, please-

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay first things first, I'm really sorry for not answering your comments, I have some issues with my Internet that's making it really hard to do so, I'll answer them as soon as I can I swear :')   
> And thank you so much you guys for your support I appreciate it lots!   
> Love you all!  
> -sevansa


	9. IX

Eudora finds a receipt in Klaus's pocket. 

She offers it to him with a shrug saying "it's not much of anything,  but maybe it will help?" 

Eudora is an angel among humans, he tells her as much, and she laughs, pecks him on the lips and says "flattery will get you anywhere." 

She is beautiful like that, hair a mess and face bare, wearing sweatpants and an oversized shirt. He thinks she is the most beautiful human being to ever grace the surface of the planet. Honestly, if he wasn't so worried about his brother he'd take this opportunity to initiate some pretty fantastic sex. But there it is, Klaus, a professional cockblock even when he's not in the room.

Today is the day he's supposed to meet up with Vanya for lunch anyway, he remembers, looking down at the receipt, The name sounds vaguely familiar, he thinks he'd seen it a couple of times before, just a normal diner, he thinks Vanya would appreciate the casual atmosphere, plus he’ll get to ask about klaus, win-win all around.

"Good luck with your siblings." Eudora says. 

And yeah, he totally needs that.

 

He’s supposed to pick Vanya up at 3 for her lunch break, he arrives ten minutes early, so he parks the car and waits in front of the Icarus theater, he watches the people who occasionally wander up and down the street. At 3 on the dot, the doors open and Vanya steps out , she’s shouldering her violin case and looks around suppostioiusy, head lowered and shoulders hunched. 

Diego ignores the flutter of nervousness in his belly and steps forward. 

“Hey.”

Vanya startles and looks up to him with a smile, “Hi.” she says a bit awkwardly.

“How was rehearsal?” He asks  and just like that the tension was broken, they talk in small bursts, it was a bit awkward, granted, what with the both of them trying not to step on any toes, but it was manageable, thing is, he’s pretty sure that’s the longest conversation he’d had with Vanya in like- ever.

"So why this place in particular?" Vanya asks,sounding a bit dubious as she unbuckles her seat belt and peers out from the window. 

And okay, the diner looks a bit shabby, but it's not _so_ bad. 

Diego sighs though. " I think Klaus is missing." He says. 

Vanya seems to freeze in place, what little lightness there was between them fading. 

"Missing how?" She asks. 

"Missing as in he left his belongings in my apartment and disappeared." 

Vanya frown. "Klaus would never leave his things willingly." She says. 

"Exactly!" He says with an exhale, relieved that his sister _got_ it. 

Eudora tried to humor him when he told her Klaus wouldn't just leave his coat and clothes and run away, but it was clear in her expression that she didn't really believe him, she didn't understand  how protective they were of their belongings, how growing up like they did messed the ever living fuck out of them. 

"There was a receipt from this place in his pocket- maybe…" and he trails off letting his head fall on the steering wheel. 

The silence hangs between them for a second before Vanya lays a hand on his shoulder, " it's okay, we'll find him." She says and it sounds so sure. Vanya rarely sounds so sure of anything.

"Yeah. Yes." 

The diner is all but empty, the interior is clean, and the decorations are outdated, they sit down looking at the menu.

A couple of minutes pass where they both look around as if Klaus would somehow pop from under one of the tables shouting ‘surprise!’

No one jumps from under the table. 

An Asian waitress comes over, customer-service smile firmly in place, "Hello,  my name is Lucy and I will be your waitress. May I take your order?" 

They place their orders but before she could leave, Vanya speaks, "say, Lucy, how long have you been working here?" 

Diego looks at her weird for a second before he gets it, honestly, he's usually not that slow. 

Lucy pauses, "A couple of years now, why?" She asks, head tilted to the side. 

"We're looking for someone, you might have seen him? His name is Klaus, black hair, green eyes, lots of eyeliner and very uh- _colorful_ clothes?" Diego picks up. 

Lucy's eyes widen. "Klaus the healer?" She licks her lips and lowers her voice "do you need help?" 

Diego frowns. _Klaus the healer?_ seriously?

Vanya looks confused and Diego is reminded that she probably knows nothing about Klaus's newfound healing powers.

She opens her mouth, probably to ask for clarification, so Diego kicks her leg and gives a subtle shake of his head. 

Vanya glares, actually _glares_ at him, he’s so proud. But she doesn’t say anything, so there’s a win.

 "We're okay, we just- were just looking for him, do you know where we could find him?" 

Lucy leans back, "if you don't want his help, why are you looking for him? " She says sounding a bit suspicious now. 

"He's our brother." Diego bites out.

The woman raises an eyebrow. 

"Adopted." Vanya says, smiling. 

"Huh.” the woman says, looking conflicted. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.” She says. 

“Seriously? Why the fuck not?”

“Hey, watch your tone.”

“What Diego’s trying to say is that, we’re just worried, anything you could tell us about him would help.”

Lucy looks conflicted, she keeps looking at the both of them, and maybe it’s the worry clear in Diego’s face or the sincerity in Vanya’s that makes her relent. Either way, she does and Diego is grateful.

“Look, I really can’t help you, it’s been a couple of days since anyone’s seen Klaus, he was supposed to meet up with me and my... friend, for dinner; he never showed up.” 

“And that’s unusual?” Diego asks, his tone as neutral as he could make it, he knows the question may sound a bit cruel, but He needs to know if this sort of thing is not par for the course.

Lucy glares, “He never misses dinner, especially if there’s someone who needs his help involved, he was supposed to look at a friend’s son, he never showed up, that’s- that’s not like him.” 

And Diego wasn’t much of a brother to Klaus, how would he know if his brother’s priorities changed? 

Vanya is biting her lips, eyebrows furrowed and Diego has a moment where he regrets involving her in all this, what if this turned out to be dangerous after all? 

“-Honestly, we’re getting a bit worried out there.” Lucy finished and she does sound like she genuinely cares for him. 

“You guys are close huh?” He says.

Lucy smiled. “He saved my life.”

There is a second of silence where she lets the words hang there, she then adds, “Look, people are looking out for him, if you do find him, call me?” She says fumbling with her writing pad, tearing off a piece of paper with her phone number on it. “Just- just tell him that Jemma will be pissed he missed dinner.” and with that, she walks away.

 

“Well, that was a bust.” 

“Was it?”

“Of course it was, we’re no closer to knowing where he went, where the hell are we supposed to even start looking?”

“Yeah… but we do know now that we’re not the only one looking.”

Diego sighs, worry knotting at his stomach.

“Where the hell are you, Klaus?”

  


Luther is a good son. 

He is a good son, a good soldier, and a good leader. 

He knows that, and he takes pride in it, afterall, he’s the only one who _stayed._

He never, _never,_ disobeys an order. 

He’s never _thought_ to disobey an order before, never saw a need for it, really. His ability to follow orders to the letter is what makes him most valuable.

Then why the fuck would he start doing so now?

 But there he is a day after ‘retrieving the asset’ wondering if he’d done the right thing. 

'Cause he might he a bit of a brute but he'd never hurt his siblings if it wasn't a last resort kind of thing. Dad said that it would be the easiest course of action though (easiest how? Easiest why? Klaus is the worst at hand-to-hand. Hell, he could have just told him to come with and Klaus would probably do it, no violence necessary!).

No. Dad said to do it, so he did, Dad knows what’s best for them, he always did.

And Luther might not know why Klaus is suddenly so important, but dad said that he's becoming a danger to himself, to those around him. That they're gonna help him.

This, this is not helping.

The thought comes to him amidst the sheer horror of the situation.

Klaus is lying on a metal table, shackled and shaking, upper body bare if not of the amount of blood on the skin, his fingers are crooked and his eyes are closed, it doesn't seem like he'd noticed Luther. 

He is standing in the doorway and he is frozen. Eyes wide and not breathing. 

This is not helping. 

How is this helping? 

He sways in place, torn between going to Klaus, to try and help, to do anything, or to go back and find his dad and demand answers. ‘Cause this- there must be some sort of logical explanation for something like this, right?

Dad wouldn’t do this to Klaus without a reason, right?

A small whimper decides for him. Klaus just sounds so _small,_ so broken and in such _pain._

fuck.

Luther hurries inside, and once he’s by his brother, he stops, hands hovering, hesitant. Now that he’s closer he starts noticing the wisps of blue smoke that seems to rise out from his brother’s skin. What the hell? 

“Klaus, Klaus.” he calls out, but nothing, the man is sweating and he looks so thin and battered, face pale with twin flushed spots on his cheeks. 

Shit, he looks more like a corpse than a human. What the fuck is happening here? 

He doesn’t dare to touch him he- he needs to call mom, mom has medical programming, she’ll know what to do. 

“What are you doing here, Number One?”

“Sir!” Luther whirls around and fights the urge to salute, “I was- Sir, what are you doing to Klaus?”

The man frowns and walks briskly to the table, prodding at Klaus with a gloved finger. 

Luther watches with a distant sort of horror. 

“I’m helping Number Four discover his true potential.” the man says and that seems like enough of an explanation for him because he turns back to the supine figure, humming thoughtfully.

“It seems the level of intoxication affects the healing factor. It will be interesting to see the efficiency of the healing with no drugs in his system.” 

“He’s going through withdrawals? Sir, I don’t think-” 

“Number one,” The man says sharply, “you will either cease your babbling or you will get out.”   

Luther lets out a strangled breath.

His eyes travel to Klaus lying there helpless, and his dad, who must have a proper reason for this, right? 

“I-”

He doesn’t understand why would- what did he mean with healing? Klaus can’t heal, he sees the dead and that’s that, right?

But if he heals that mean that whatever dad is doing can’t be hurting him much, right?

Klaus lets out a pained whimper, and Luther flinches, He turns on heal and walks out of the underground room.

This is not helping.

 He should- He can’t- this isn’t _right._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO THERE EVERYONE! how did you like this chapter? I'm very pleased with how this story is progressing and we are almost at the end! 3-4 chapters and we're there!! isn't that exciting!  
> Anyway, thank you so much for the overwhelming support this story is getting, you have no idea how much it means to me, seriously you guys are the best <3  
> Thank you for reading so far, Don't forget to leave a comment!  
> -sevansa


	10. X

It is days later of Luther sneaking down into the basement and observing Klaus getting worse and worse, the withdrawals, the experiments, Klaus is rarely coherent now and is perpetually surrounded by a haze of blue. He looks worse and worse every day, and it occurs to Luther, that Klaus might very well die that finds Luther there, staring at his phone, on the screen, the number is already written in, he stares until the screen blinks black, and then stares some more. 

He’s sitting (hiding) in his bedroom and wishing like hell that he’s anywhere except here, that he’s a month back where his biggest concern was how bored he is. 

He’s not bored now. 

No.

He is jittery with shaking legs and tapping fingers, channeling Klaus. 

He taps the screen. And trying not to think about it, he taps the call button. 

The phone rings. 

Once.

Twice

Thrice.

His finger hovers over the end call button.

“Hello?”

Luther sucks in a startled breathe. 

“Allison.” He says and its comes out barely a whisper. 

There is silence on the other end of the call, and for one wild second, Luther is convinced that she hung up on him. 

“Luther?” She says and it is both disbelieving and pleased. 

“Yeah, it’s me.” he says, smiling, it’s been so long since he’s heard her voice, but now that he is listening to her, he is unsure how to go on, how to get the words out, it sounded simple in his head, he needed help, ask for help. How is he supposed to ask for help?  

“Hi- Why- uh, Is everything alright?” She asks as she sounds bewildered, tentative, she the same as him, never expected to hear the other’s voice.

“Yeah-uh- I guess? I’m not-” 

“I never thought you’d call.” 

He never thought he’d call either.

“Yeah- Listen, Allison, are you busy?” He asks, because he needs her not busy, he needs her here with him, helping him figure out what to do.

There is quiet before she says. “No, I’m between movies right now, what is it?” And her voice is gentle. “Is dad- Is everyone alright?”

“Everyone is...fine-” except dad, who is torturing the hell out of their brother. ”I mean, it’s- Klaus.” He ends, defeated, ‘cause everything is decidedly not fine.

“Klaus?” She sounds confused, but the worry is gone and is replaced with fond exasperation. “What’s he done now?” She says, and it sounds like she’s settling down for some gossip.

Luther swallows heavily, there is no time for this.

“He hasn’t- Look Allison, can you come back? We- I need your help.” He says and it sounds abrupt even to him. 

She pauses, but ends up saying, “I...I can be back home by 6 if- if I booked a flight.” 

“Good. listen, when you come back, don’t come by the academy, I’ll meet you in Griddy’s okay?”

“What?”

“No one can know you’re here.” It sounds ominous, but it has to be said.

”Okay.” She says elongating the word, she obviously wants to ask for more details, but Allison is smart enough to realize that he won’t be able to tell her over the phone. 

And with that she hangs up and Luther is left with the distinct feeling that he’s going to do something unforgivable.

He could have tried getting Klaus out himself, without involving anyone, it would have been- better. He thinks, but he knows the room is being watched, he knows that everywhere is being watched and if he wants to get Klaus out without anyone being harmed in the process, then brute strength is not the way to go.

Sometimes, he wishes Five was still here, he’d always been great at coming up with plans.

This is going to be a disaster. 

Luther stands up, he goes to the kitchen. He doesn’t want to be alone now, and he won’t- can’t face Klaus now, not when he doesn’t have a concrete way of helping him out…

 

 

Grace is standing in front of the stove, humming to herself, baking a tray of cookies for the children that never visit, she turns around when she hears him come in, a bright smile on her face. “Luther dear! sit down, the cookies are almost done!”

“Mom?” he says hesitantly.

“Yes dear?” She says distractedly.

“I think i’m going to do something stupid.” 

“Then why are you going to do it?” She says, all reasonable and smiling. 

Luther licks his lips and looks down,”It’s the right thing to do- I think.”

She flutters across the kitchen gathering a plate and arranging a couple of warm cookies on it, and somehow Luther ends up with a cold glass of milk, a full plate of cookies and a kiss on his forehead. “Then it’s not stupid, is it?” She says simply, she’s so expressive, so kind. 

Luther munches on one cookie thoughtfully. “Maybe… maybe it’s not.”

 

**

  

“I believe, Number Four, that you might very well be able to bring someone back from the dead, the interaction between your powers over the dead and the physical regeneration will very easily allow you to construct a physical body for any shade you summon, necromancy if you will.” 

Reginald is talking, he is talking and it feel like little knives going through his head and eyes,he is in so much pain he forgot what it was like to have a healthy, pain-free body. 

Reginald never stops talking and Klaus screams.

 It feels like a scream.

It is not, it's barely a whimper. He is so tired, so tired and sick and empty, and he doesn’t think he’d ever wished for death quite so overtly before. 

If it wasn’t for Ben- 

Ben who is sitting with him, always in his field of vision, always trying to distract him, doing what he can, whatever he can, he hasn’t seen Luther since that first day and it sucks, at this point, he’d kill to have anyone other than Reginald around. Even Pogo hasn’t come here.

(He likes to think that Reginald hasn’t told him, or mom, because they might disagree with him, that they might find this terrible, that they might help him out,if only they knew.)

Because Klaus is powerless, for all that he hasn’t stopped using his power since he woke up here in this fucking grey murder-dungeon, he is powerless.

He is going to die here.

And no one will know because Luther left him to die and Diego probably thinks he fucked off to get high.

And Klaus-

Klaus-

He doesn’t want to die-

Please, please, please, anyone, anyone-

His vision is getting blurry and it takes him a second to realize that it’s the tears clouding his vision.

“Everything is going to be okay, Klaus.”

And Ben is such a fucking liar isn’t he?

“Human subjects next, a recently deceased individual-” Reginald is still talking at Klaus- not to him, ‘Cause klaus lost the ability (or will) to talk somewhere between day three and an almost decapitation. 

“Listen to me- Klaus listen-” But Klaus doesn’t even care anymore, why should he when this is going to be his end- or fuck, what if he doesn’t die? What if he remains here in a limbo of pain and nausea, stuck as a lab rat for a man who forgot that he’s a fucking human being.

He has to get out, he needs out, out, out, out. 

He feels it then, hands gripping his, fingers through his own, the touch insistent and solid, and so fucking gentle. 

Klaus jerks away from the feeling but he can’t go anywhere, the monitor spikes with his panic and Reginald, after a single look, ignores the screeching but Klaus doesn’t care because he can-

He blinks tries to clear the tears from his eyes, only to meet up with Ben’s dark ones, equally startled, and he’s either started hallucinating, or he can feel (feel!) his dead brother’s hand in his. 

He risks a glance at Reginald, but the man is distracted with his notes and he doesn’t seem to have noticed anyone else in the room. 

(Is anyone else in the room?)

Klaus’s breathe hitch. He squeezes Ben’s hand in his and he feels it, he feels the pressure, soft skin and shifting bones, it must be hurting Ben but the ghost doesn’t even twitch, he’s looking down at their intertwined fingers, fascinated and frozen. 

“I can feel this.” Ben whispers and he sounds close to tears. 

See, Ben’s seen a lot by Klaus’s side and he rarely- if ever- cries, sometimes -very privately- Klaus thinks that death dampened Ben’s grasp on emotions, that he doesn’t feel things as acutely as before. This is the most human Ben looked since he died, maybe even before he died as well. 

Ben was always more a shade than a solid.

Klaus tries to smile, but his face is frozen and his muscles refuse to cooperate the way they ought to, he doesn’t know what expression is on his face, but Ben’s face scrunch up. 

“We’ll get you out of here, I swear.” And it is wet. 

Klaus opens his mouth to speak, to say anything maybe to tell Ben to try touching something else, to try and get the cuffs off, anything-

But there is fire in his throat and he can’t speak, what comes out is hoarse sound, and Ben winces. Looking guilty and sad and somehow not dead. 

But this is not what Klaus wants, not what he needs right now. 

He shifts his arm and the cuffs clink ominously, Ben looks down at the sound, and Klaus pulls his arm once more. 

Miraculously, Ben gets it. “Yes- yes-” He touches the metal and a shudder ges through his ghostly body “-I can touch it, I can- I’ll get you out, I’ll get the keys.” Ben says and he sound excited, he sounds alive, 

Klaus doesn’t care if he’s fucking hallucinating or dreaming because if he is, he’s very happy to stay in this fantasy forever, he’s not even going to question why the fuck Ben is able to touch stuff now, he doesn’t care he need to get out and now Ben can help him out.

Once Reginald fucks off the room that is.

Their eyes meet, and with it the understanding that they’re not going to disappear here.

This is not the end.

 

 

***

There are leeches crawling under his skin and Luther can’t stand them, he’s pacing and fretting and feeling like something entirely different than what he essentially is, it scares him. 

This was not how it's supposed to be. This is not how he was supposed to see Allison again. 

He is pacing in front of Griddy's and trying (and failing) to ignore the looks people are sending him, but Luther can't stand still, he doesn't feel normal enough to stand still, he feels like if he stops moving he is going to shatter into a million tiny pieces and what use will he be to anyone then? 

He's already betraying his dad, he doesn't want to add betraying his siblings to the list. 

"Luther!" 

And that is Allison, beautiful and dressed in what she probably thinks is an understated blouse and pants combo but it instead makes her look all the more glamorous. She strides up to him and without any delay she wraps her arms around him.

"I missed you." She says her face buried in his chest. 

Luther stands frozen, but slowly, his arms come up, returning the hug.

This, this feels nice.  

It's been...so very, very, long since anyone's hugged him. 

They stay like that, wrapped in each other's arms soaking in the comfort of the other's presence. "I missed you too." He finally says back. 

She laughs a bit and moves back, still holding onto his arms." Look at you! You filled up!" She says grinning with genuine pleasure. 

Luther laughs, a short one, and if it sounds teary, Allison doesn't call him out on it. 

"Let's go in?" He says instead and Allison takes his arm in his and drags him inside. 

 

They each get a donut and Allison gets a large black coffee, she's probably exhausted after her flight. 

"So? What's up?" She says once they've settled down.

Luther takes a deep breath, and talks. 

Once the words start flowing, it is like a tsunami of emotions and impressions, of thoughts and terrible, terrible facts. 

Allison listens, her face a perfectly calm mask and Luther is reminded once again that she is an award-winning actress. 

When he's done, she takes his hand in hers and squeeze gently. He looks up then, feeling defeated and powerless and out of his depth.

Her eyes are hard when she says "we'll get him out of there. Have you told Diego and Vanya yet?"

And Luther stops. Right. 

Honestly, he forgot he even had more siblings he could ask for help. (And doesn't that make him feel like the scum of the earth?) 

Allison, if her expression is anything to go by, probably realized. She looks exasperated, Luther ducks his head down, chastised. 

She sighs, but when he looks up, she looks almost wistful, "I truly did miss you, you oaf."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo did anyone honestly expect Allison to show up?


	11. XI

They arrive at Diego’s place much faster than he was prepared for. 

Luther is oddly nervous about seeing his brother again. He doesn’t know how he would react to him and Allison crashing his life, he probably hasn’t seen heads or tails of Klaus since he left the academy, but even if they are not close, Luther knows that he won’t leave Klaus stranded under Reginald’s mercy. 

if only to be petty.

Diego’s hatred for their dad almost makes sense now... 

They are standing in front of the doors, Allison right beside him, small and radiating confidence, she doesn’t knock though, she’s waiting for Luther to take that step for himself and he is- grateful.

There are sounds coming from inside, and Luther worries they won’t be welcomed in. 

He should have called. 

He doesn’t even know Diego’s number- never expected to need it.

He’s stalling. 

Luther is not a coward.

 He raises a fist and promptly knocks, Allison looks like she’s bursting with pride. 

The front door opens to reveal an unfamiliar woman, she’s pretty (and tiny) she looks at them in confusion.

“Yes?” 

“Uh-” Luther blinks, suddenly tongue-tied, he was so prepared to come face to face with Diego and the sudden appearance of this woman is sending him off-kilter.

He can practically hear Allison rolling her eyes at him, “Hi, we’re looking for Diego?” She says, smiling sweetly and looking as non-threatening as possible. 

Thank god for Allison. 

The woman raises an eyebrow, she crosses her arms and leans on the door, her eyes dark.

“Are you now.”

“We’re his siblings.”  Allison says, smile still firmly in place.

If anything, the woman’s demeanor darkens further. She takes a deep breath as if stopping herself from something. 

“I see. Well what are you waiting for? come in.” 

Luther doesn’t want to come in, He’s not a coward but he does occasionally show signs of self-preservation and something about that woman is sending all his instincts through the  _ roof _ . 

Allison however, grabs his arm and pulls him behind her smile still firmly in place. 

“Thank you, I’m Allison, and this is Luther.” 

“Eudora Patch.” She says, and it’s anything but friendly.

 

She leads them through a short hallway and into an open living room kitchen combo. It’s a small area, seemingly even smaller by the amount of people crammed into the room. 

The first thing that comes to his mind is that they’re crashing a party.

But, it doesn’t feel like a party.

The air is tense inside and there is no laughter, nor music.  

The people inside are somber and busy, moving over each other in a well-oiled motion, an asian woman is sitting in the corner a phone smooshed between her shoulder and her cheek, she’s going through a checklist of some sort, the other two unfamiliar people are talking in low tones doing whoever knows what, and there is Diego, back to them and kneeling on the floor looking extremely busy.

Allison stops in her tracks, obviously unsure what to do, “Sorry, we didn’t mean to intrude.” She says and it is loud enough that it catches most of the people’s attention, Diego’s head shoots out, he looks startled, he stands up. Luther can see now that there is a large map spread in front of him, areas of it crossed out in vivid red lines. 

“Allison? Luther? What are you doing here?” He says and it is incredulous.  

Luther, almost unconsciously, finds himself moving behind Allison. 

Allison’s eyes dart around, and it is obvious she’s reluctant to speak with all the unfamiliar people in the room, out of all of them, Allison is the one who is most concerned with the way people perceive them, she’d always been - extremely sensitive about that. 

“We- Can we talk to you? Privately?” 

Diego’s eyebrows furrow. He sends a look around and wait- is that Vanya? She’s half-hidden behind a couch her own phone clutched in her hands as she looked at them eyes wide. 

“Vanya!” Allison says. “I didn’t see you there, this is great, we were going to your place after this,”

Allison doesn’t say what the hell. She doesn’t say what the fuck is going on here, she doesn’t say any of the things running through Luther’s head and that is probably a good thing, there is a reason Allison is the one speaking while Luther is physically biting his tongue to prevent himself from saying something stupid. 

 

Diego and Vanya share a look but they stand up, and Diego says, “Sure, let’s go to the roof.” and to everyone else. “You guys go on, we won’t be long.” 

There are calls of acknowledgement from around the room, Eudora however steps in front of him, “Are you sure about this?” She says her eyes darting to them and sending them frankly terrifying looks.

Luther is not sure what they’ve done to deserve this, but he’s willing to apologize, if only to stop the hate. 

Diego though- Diego all but melts, he rolls his eyes fondly, “They’re family.” he brushes past her, but not before giving her hand a gentle squeeze. 

Huh.

 

They make their way to the roof in a tense silence, a row of soldiers on their way to battle. 

Surprisingly, it is Allison who cracks first. 

“What is going on here?” She asks, and it is genuinely curious. 

Luther wants to tell her that he doesn’t care, he doesn’t give a damn, they should just come out and tell them that Luther fucked up, that Klaus is now in trouble and they need help. 

But- 

Allison is better with words, she’s always been.

Diego’s mouth twists in a frown. 

“You don’t know- Of course you don’t know, why did I expect-” And he stops himself in the middle. 

Vanya pats his arm comfortingly, and when did  _ that  _ happen?

“Klaus is missing.” She says and it is a challenge, as if to say, yes Klaus is actually missing, no jokes will not be appreciated. 

Allison takes in a startled breathe beside him, and Luther- Luther is suddenly fighting the urge to bawl like a baby. 

“Oh shit.” He says.

Allison takes a step forward, standing in front of Luther, protection or deterrent of violence, he’s not sure. 

“That’s- that’s kind of what we want to talk to you about.” She says.

And the tone must have registered as odd with Diego because he’s stepping forward, 

“Do you know where he is?” Diego asks and his eyes are brighter, his shoulder are squaring- 

And now that Luther is looking, Diego looks terrible, he looks tired and worried in a way that is very uncharacteristic of him- Vanya besides him, doesn’t look much better. 

There is a tiny ball of bitterness that he tries to ignore, a thought along the lines of ‘when did that happen?, were they always that close? And why was he not involved in whatever bond those three have?’ Because last time he checked, none of his siblings could stand the sight of each other, Him and Allison not included-

He feels- wrong-footed.  

And guilty.

And jealous.

He bites hard on his tongue, the pain making it easy to concentrate. “ Father has him.” He says.

Vanya blinks. “He’s in the academy?” She says, and it is confused.

Luther shakes his head.

“Not willingly- Father is, He found out about Klaus’s new powers and he’s been… experimenting.” Luther says, bracing himself.

“Are you telling me,” Diego is stalking forward, dangerous and predatory, “That, that _ bastard _ , has been  _ torturing  _ our brother and you’ve done nothing to help?” He asks, voice oddly calm and level.

Luther stays his ground, because he is not a coward, and also, he deserves this. 

“Yes.” He says, closing his eyes and waiting for impact. 

“Jesus fucking  _ christ.”  _ Diego breathes out, sounding horrified. And Luther is confused, he expected to be bleeding by now.

He opens his eyes, only to find Diego looking horrified, Vanya clutching at his arm and Allison tense as a wire in front of him, arms stretched to either side and glaring. 

“There is no time for this, He’s asking for help now, so we’ll get Klaus out now.” Allison says, firm and no-nonsense. 

 “Fuck- Fuck!” He says vehemently. “He’s been this close the whole time I could have-”

“Hey! You didn’t know, you couldn’t have known- but now we need to get him out okay?” And that is Vanya sounding more solid than she ever did in their life.

“Jesus- fine, right, we better head down.”

Allison frowns, “Why would we do that?” She asks.

“Because everyone down there’s been busting their assess trying to catch wind of Klaus for a week now, and they deserve to know that we’ve found him.”

And isn’t that a novel thought.

 

** 

  
  


"Okay. Okay. I'm going to check the security camera, loop it or short-circuit it or something." Klaus is so clear-headed he’s wondering if maybe Reginald slipped something into his IV bag. Which he knows didn’t happen ‘cause Ben’s been watching the man like a hawk, once Reginald stepped out of the room, they’re in motion.  It gotta be the adrenaline, sweet, sweet adrenaline.

“I’m going to disable the camera and find the key to get you out of all that, okay?” Ben says looking determined and solid. 

“Okay. cameras, good.” Klaus says nodding before registering the rest of the sentence. “Wait! I have lockpicks in the sole of my shoe!” He whisper shouts, feeling extremely pleased about the fact.

Ben stops in his tracks and send him a look. “Seriously? How are such a cliche?” 

“Rude.” 

Ben rolls his eyes, “Whatever, Lemme get them for you.” Ben says and wanders out Klaus’s fields vision, there is some rustling around before Ben returns once more he places the lockpicks between Klaus’s finger and Klaus turns his hand to hide them from view. 

“I’m going to turn off the cameras, once the red light is off, you get those cuffs off you hear?” 

Klaus nods, suddenly extremely tired of all the shit he’s been through, he needs to get out of here, hell if he doesn’t move out of this bed he’s going to develop pressure ulcers and he knows those are not good. 

They are getting out of here and if they take out that bastard Reginald out of the equation, Klaus wouldn’t feel the slightest bit bad about it. Bastard deserves to die for what he’s done. 

Ben squeezes Klaus’s fist and promptly disappears.

Klaus waits. Eyes fixed on the blinking red lights. 

It blinks. 

And blinks.

And blinks.

And finally, It stops. 

Klaus lets out a yelp of delight, Ben did it! He did it.

Holy shit Ben can touch shit now.

His breath is coming out faster than usual and he knows he’s sending himself into an attack, he tries to calm down to concentrate on the cuffs he starts fumbling with them, and man, if you’ve never tried picking a lock singlehandedly, then thank whatever deity you’re worshiping cause it fucking sucks. 

By the time he gets the first cuff off, his hands are shaking, whether it’s nervousness or adrenaline, he isn’t sure, but once that’s off, it feels like a victory, yes he can get out of here, yes he will save himself.

The second cuff comes out faster than the first, he already knows how it ticks.

He sits up for the first time in god knows how long, and it feels euphoric, it feels better than some of the trips he took. He lets out a loud groan, and yanks the IV out (which hurts like a motherfucker, he probably shouldn’t have done that) and tries to be more careful of the catheter (‘Cause one, that’s his dick. Two, motherfucking  _ ow) _   and honestly , it says something about his life that he knows how to remove that shit. There was even a handy syringe lying around and all... if he developed a UTI he’s going to be seriously pissed. Can he develop UTIs now? 

Once that is done, he starts freeing his legs,

“You almost done here?” Ben says, sounding frantic.

“Jesus  _ fuck!”  _ Klaus screeches, startled. 

Ben jumps looking back, “What!” 

“You scared me, you little shit.” 

Ben blinks at him, one hand clutching at his chest. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I have a delicate constitution.” Klaus bites out, going back to work on the cuffs.

Ben rolls his eyes, “Whatever, pretty boy, There was no one watching the feed, Father is in his study, Pogo in his room and Mother is in the kitchen. Luther is no where to be found.” He reports dutifully, going back to soldier mode. “ If we hurry up, we can make it out of here without anyone's the wiser.” 

Klaus lets out a shaky laugh, it is relief mixed with disbelief. 

“Yeah yeah. Let’s get the fuck out of here.” He says as the last cuff falls to the ground. He stands up and promptly blacks out.

He comes too with Ben hovering over him eyebrows pinched in worry. “Don’t do this to me, dude, come on, wake up.”

“I-m I’m up.” He groans feeling faint and sick and shaky. 

Ben hauls him up (touches him!) and Klaus stumbles after him, his legs not working the way he wants them to. 

They reach the door, a heavy metal monstrosity and this is where their problems starts.

The door refuses to budge. 

Klaus is already weak, but something tells him, that even at full health, he wouldn’t be able to move the door. 

“No-” He whispers. 

Ben is hovering behind him, hands gripping the heavy metal as he tried to push- 

“C’mon Klaus help me-” He grunts out.

And Klaus does, he  _ does,  _ he’s pushing at the door, but it is so  _ heavy.  _

He’s not sure how long they spent there, but Klaus is exhausted, and desperation is starting to set in and he’s this close to giving up and just- letting Reginald do whatever the fuck he wants when the door swings open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Sorry?  
> Almost there! we're almost there!!  
> Thank you guys for sticking with this so far, I really love all your comments and enthusiasm, you're the best!  
> -sevansa


	12. XII

There comes a point in everyone’s lives, where they are suddenly confronted by how terribly they have handled life thus far. 

Klaus is fortunate to say that regardless of his messed up life, he’d never regretted any of it. 

Regret is  _ tiresome.  _ And he’s not usually in the business of tiring himself needlessly. 

Klaus doesn't regret.

Until now. __

Right now, at this very second, He regrets so, so, so much. 

He’s staring at the body lying on the ground, his hands outstretched and fingers glowing a pretty shimmery blue, the earth is shaking under him and he’s having a hard time keeping his balance. 

It takes him a second to realize that it is him that is shaking, and not the floor. 

Ben is silent. 

Klaus slides down to the floor, suddenly cold, he’s still wearing a flimsy hospital gown, funny how that didn’t bother him mere minutes before. 

He’s blank faced, blank headed, blank minded. 

Ben walks forward and kneels down. “He’s dead.” He announces, and he sounds- strange, shellshocked maybe, is the right word. 

“Holy shit, holy shit, holyshit holyshit shit shit shit-”

“Klaus!” Ben says sharply leaning towards him.

“He’s not dead, I just- I touched him, He can’t be dead - He’s not- He’s-” What? Not human? He can’t die? Klaus wasn’t aware he harbored such childish notions in his head, Reginald is a monolith, a living giant made of stone and steel and he is going to live for ever and ever and when he dies it will not because he was  _ killed. _

_ “Fuck. I killed him.”  _ he should be pleased right? He should- He should be crowing in joy, spitting on the body and enjoying his revenge. 

Reginald is dead and can’t harm him anymore. 

“Get up.” Ben says, pulling Klaus to his feet. “We have to go.” And he is all cold practicality, no place for emotions in a crisis. Another one of Reginald’s most charming lessons.

Klaus allows himself to be pulled up, hand in hand, Ben leads him away, his body feels almost foreign he has the strangest sensation that he’s not solid enough, that he will sink into the floor if he’s not careful, he wonders if this is how Ben feels all the time. 

His eyes are glued down though. And yeah, that’s Reginald alright. The man white as a sheet and the shock forever frozen on his face. 

Klaus breathes out, and it is a shuddering mess. 

“Shhh” Ben says. He leads him carefully up some stairs, stopping periodically, maybe to listen for footsteps who Knows, who the fuck cares, certainly not Klaus, because Klaus killed their  _ fucking  _ dad. 

He’s waiting with bated breath for Reginald’s ghost to manifest and kill him in retaliation, But Reginald is curiously nonexistent. 

It occurs to him, that that might be what they needed to prove that the man is soulless. 

The thought is absurd, he lets out a stifled giggle, stumbling behind his dead brother running away from the body of their dead father, how the fuck is this his life?

They’re in the foyer when the front doors click and even as out of it as Klaus is, he knows to be terrified. 

He can’t- can’t go back inside. He can’t go back and he will not be locked up for fucking hell   _ killing their dad,  _ the bastard deserves this, he tries to rationalize, but the thought curdles in his gut, and he feels the guilt like nausea eating at him. 

Ben stands in front of him facing the door, shoulders squared as if he could take anything head on, no one can even see him, what the hell does he think he’s doing? 

The door opens to reveal Luther standing there with Allison right beside him. 

Klaus stumbles back and he doesn’t know what expression his face is making but Luther looks terrified, he steps forward, “Klaus?” 

  
  


***

 

They have a very simple plan, distraction and retrieval, after they shot down all of Diego’s and and ,surprisingly, Vanya’s violent plans, they settled on the simplicity, more room for maneuverability and all that jazz.

Vanya is waiting in the car outside, ready to leave at a moment’s notice, Diego is sneaking from the back and Luther and Allison are going through the front door, distract father, distract Pogo and keep the coast clear for Diego to do the rescuing. 

Simple. 

Or at least that’s how it was supposed to be. 

But there is Klaus, hospital gown and all, swaying on his feet and looking more like death warmed over than he ever did, wild-eyed and wild-haired with a haze of misty blue surrounding him and forming an empty space in the shape of a person, fuck that’s terrifying.

Klaus stumbles back, looking almost out of his mind. Luther moves towards him, but is beaten by Allison who has her phone out, no doubt texting Diego and Vanya the change in plans, she goes to touch him only for her to stumble back, as if pushed. 

“Wha-”

Again, she is pushed back, this time much harder, but this is not right, Klaus hadn’t moved since they appeared, no one touched her,  Luther catches her before she falls, “Klaus, we are here to help, I swear.” He says, earnest to a fault. 

That, if anything makes Klaus curl furthur. 

Allison, recovers quickly, she sends weird looks towards the silhouetted emptiness, “C’mon Klaus, Vanya and Diego are waiting outside, we have to go before Dad sees us.” She says. 

And Klaus- laughs.

He just, giggle-snorts and slides down to the floor, arms hanging weirdly to the side, as if someone is holding him up. “Pfft, no chance of that now, eh Benny?” He mutters.

And what the hell does that even mean? Luther and Allison share a look, Allison takes a deep breath and seems to stand taller her heels clicking on the floor, “Listen Klaus, I’m going to help you up and outside, into Diego’s car, he will take us somewhere safe. Can I touch you?” She says gently crouching down.

“We have no time for this-” Luther says sending frantic looks toward the stairs, someone is going to pass by any second and then they all will be screwed, how are they supposed to get Klaus out of dad’s grasp then? Avoidance is their best (and only) strategy so far. 

Allison sends him such a dirty look, Luther shrivels a bit inside. 

“Can I touch you, Klaus?” She repeats once more. 

Klaus shrugs, Luther lets out a relieved breath, he feels jittery, they have to get out now. 

Allison pulls Klaus to his feet and if the look on her face is anything to go by, she realized how light Klaus is, and is going to do something about, probably by mothering him to death, Jesus. 

They make their way out of the door easily enough with Klaus subdued and silent. 

Klaus is never silent. Even in the midst of Dad’s most brutal...experiments, Klaus wouldn’t shut up, what if something happened in the scant few hours between the time Luther last saw him and their arrival, The fact that Klaus is out, that he saved himself is- scary.

The implications of what happened, what was terrible enough to make him get out now, when he’s been a prisoner for almost ten days- 

Luther doesn’t want to think about it. He’s very good at not thinking about stuff, he concentrates on making sure his siblings don’t stumble, he pulls the door shut, and with every step towards the car, he feels the elation of a job well done rising.  

Allison ushers Klaus into the backseat where Diego is waiting, Luther sits shotgun and once the doors are closed, Vanya  _ books  _ it. 

He hears muttering in the backseat then “He passed out.” Diego says, sounding choked. 

“What happened?” Vanya asks, not taking her eyes off the road  (not that it matters, the woman drives like she’s drunk, who’s bright idea was it for her to take the wheel?) 

“He broke himself out, we found him in the foyer.” Allison says, hesitating. “-something...pushed me, though.” 

“Pushed you?” Diego asks.

“I don’t know how to explain it- Luther you’ve seen it right?”

Luther nods, even though no one can see it, “I saw it. Something invisible pushed her off her feet.” He says dutifully.

“Not something, someone, I felt a hand.” She says and Luther looks back. 

Allison is looking at Klaus who is ragged and limp and covered with Diego’s jacket now, his head resting on Diego’s shoulder, an unreadable look in her eyes, she’s holding on to Klaus’s hand though, her thumb rubbing over his knuckles. 

Silence fall over the car. 

“H-He keeps mentioning Ben.” Diego mutters, low as if the words themselves are taboo. 

There is a collective intake of breath. “You think- you think it was Ben?” Vanya asks, voice shaky and wet. 

“I- I don’t know I mean-”

Does that mean that Ben is still here? Klaus can see the dead, does that mean he can see  _ Ben? _ Luther is not sure why he never considered that before, maybe the thought was too- harrowing. 

Luther is ,after all, one of the last people to see Ben alive, the one to pull his mangled corpse out of that mess of a mission, he knows the others blame him for Ben’s death and Luther doesn’t like to think about it, one of the many other things he locks away and refuse to examine. 

He’s not sure how to feel about Ben being… here. 

Luther curls into himself and turns his head to look out of the window, ignoring the rest of the conversation.

He is not going to think about this, he is not going to think about this, he is not. 

  
  


Luther carries Klaus up the stairs, even without his super-strength the task would have been laughably easy, the others filing behind him. Eudora opens the door at the first knock, she ushers them in, sending Klaus a worried look. “Shouldn’t he be in a hospital?” she says as she shows them to the couch,  already set up. 

The room is clean, the previous mess nowhere to be seen, the Asian woman who introduced herself as Lu comes out the kitchenette, Jemma follows her looking angry, but Luther is starting to understand that anger is how she shows worry. The rest of the entourage are nowhere to be seen. 

“No hospitals.” Diego says. “Where’s everyone?”  

Eudora bites at her lip sending another look at Klaus who is breathing normally, but looks more like a corpse than a human and closes her eyes.

“We sent them away for the night, they need to rest, we’ll text them updates, they’ll be so relieved to know our healer is safe.” Lu says a smile in her voice. 

“Healer?” Allison asks, and yeah he totally forgot to fill her in, which just goes to show how brilliant Allison is, she just tagged along when he asked for help without even asking  _ why? _

 

They settle down for a long night, none of them even bothering with the pretense of rest, the other fill Allison in, and it is obvious that none of them really understand what Klaus’s power is, and the way everyone adds little tidbits, it’s clear that they don’t even have all the information. 

The clock strikes twelve and Lu and Jemma take their leave, both of them have work early and they can’t take the day off, but they leave strict instructions to be informed the second Klaus wakes up. 

Klaus’s friends really care for him, the thought is warming. 

They manage to coexist peacefully for the time being, Diego make them all drinks and they settle down on the floor, sleep the furthest thing off their minds. 

Luther is kind of- He kind of like this. 

The last time they managed to be in the same room without a fight breaking out was so long ago, he can’t even remember it, but it was before Five… before Ben.

This is nice.

It is nice and peaceful and heartwarming.

Until his phone rings. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... who saw this coming?   
> 'cause I didn't, this was not the plan I swear, the chapter took a 180 turn from the first to its last word. and while I like where this chapter's gone, I'm low-key pissed 'cause the original chapter was titled 'the one where Ben punches everyone in the face' in my notes, and the fact that there is no punching is...yeah.  
> Anyway! what did you guys think?   
> -sevansa


	13. XIII

Vanya hates her family.

At least that’s what she tries to convince herself, because if she’s the one who hates them, then the fact that no one bothered to contact her since the day she left would be due to her preference and not because they all but breathed a sigh of relief that the ordinary Number Seven is gone. 

 She hates them and can’t stand the sight of them, she thinks it every time she sees Allison on the cover of a magazine, she thinks it whenever she passes by a club and is reminded or Klaus, she thinks it whenever she feels that pesky pang of homesickness. 

She hates them. 

Maybe that’s why she started writing her book, she had too many emotions with nowhere to go and no one to listen, putting them on paper seemed like an okay alternative, maybe then someone would listen, maybe then someone would care, and if not, then that’s okay too Vanya is used to being ignored. 

Her book that is only two pages in and collecting dust in her apartment. 

Because she’s  _ here.  _

She is sitting with Klaus’s head in her lap and watching her siblings talk and she doesn’t feel- marginalized. 

It feels...good. 

That is until Luther’s phone rings and while she can’t hear the other side of the conversation, Luther’s expression is enough to go by.  

See, while Luther is the academy’s heavy hitter and his and Diego’s fights are epic and well-documented, he’s never been particularly violent towards the squishy normal humans AKA Vanya herself, that being said, she’d never had any reason to fear Luther before. 

She never had much to do with him anyway. 

Now though, now she’s scared.

“What?” He says to whoever it is on the phone. 

“How did- When-” He asks again and then stops maybe to listen to the caller.

“I see.” He says and it sounds so- dispassionate. “No, why would I know where Klaus is?” He says eyeing Number Four and ending the call, Vanya shivers, if she  didn’t know better, she would have believed him. 

But there he is glaring at their brother like he personally murdered his favourite puppy, his fists are clenched and jaws squared and there is anger in his eyes. 

Vanya slowly, gently lifts Klaus’s head off her lap and onto the couch. She stands up, her mind curiously blank, and faces her brother. 

She doesn’t know what sort of expression is on her face but it is enough that Luther stops in his tracks. 

“Move, Vanya.” He says, dangerous and odd.

“No.”

She is tiny in comparison, but in this second, she doesn’t feel it. 

She doesn’t feel weak, or helpless. 

“Luther?” That’s Allison, she lays a hand on his arms and while his body unwinds, his eyes are still dangerous, before anything else could be said, another phone goes off. 

And like a domino effect it goes on, Diego answers, and in contrary to Luther he doesn’t look angry, he looks intrigued. The call ends and Diego whispers “That son of a bitch.” impressed.

One done, Two done, there goes Three, Allison’s phone rings, Four’s doesn’t ring, Five is Dead, Six is Dead. 

When Vanya’s phone rings, she knows, there is only one reason Pogo -and it has to be Pogo- would be calling all of them.  

Father is dead. 

She answers mechanically, “Hello.”

“Miss Vanya,” Pogo says. 

“Pogo,”

“I’m sorry to be calling you this late, but there is no easy way of saying this- your father, he passed away.” 

“Oh.” Is all she says, because she knows, she  _ knows.  _

“He will be cremated, as per his request.” Pogo goes on to say. 

“Oh.” She says again. 

She’s not sure how the conversation ends, but it ends, she agreed to go to the academy as soon as she can anyway.

Her eyes meet Luther’s and she understands the anger. She squares her shoulders and wishes she had more eyes, to see how everyone else was reacting. 

“He killed dad.” Luther says. And it comes out choke-full of emotions, as if begging her to understand, Vanya’s never been good at emotions, everything feels muted to her, at least that’s what she got much later in life, but she understands enough to know that Luther may do something he will regret. 

She will make him regret, if he touches a hair of Klaus’s head.

“Luther, Stop” Allison says, firm. 

For the first time in ever, he doesn’t listen to Allison.

Diego moves, he shoulders Luther back and stands beside her, immovable wall against an unstoppable object. She doesn’t have to look to know that Diego is holding his knives at the ready. And she wishes, more than anything, that she could be of more use.  

She needs to take her pills. 

They are seconds from coming to blows and it’s going to be messy-

“I heard a rumor, “Allison starts her voice shaking with suppressed anger. And Vanya’s eyes widen, she’s not going to- “That you three calmed the fuck down.” 

She did.

A wave of calmness sweeps over her, her shoulders relax and she blinks, it feels… really, really good. 

Allison pulls Luther away seating him on the floor, Diego follows suit, and now that Luther is out of the way, she could see Eudora holding a taser at the ready aimed at Luther’s back. 

Damn. that’s hot. 

Not the time.

Vanya retakes her place on the couch. 

Allison sighs, her face softening. 

“I know, we all received some shocking news-” And doesn’t she have a gift for understatement.  “-But attacking an unconscious person is not in anyway constructive.” She glares viciously at that. 

Luther, to his credit, looks shamefaced.

“Plus, we don’t know for sure that Klaus had anything to do with it, Pogo didn’t say anything about murder.” Allison goes on, even when they full well know that Klaus had  _ something  _ to do with it. 

Vanya looks down, Klaus is still passed out, sleeping the sleep of the dead, he looks marginally better now, not corpse-like anymore, but he still looks terrible, he might have killed their father, and honestly, Vanya couldn’t find it in herself to care, it’s probably Allison’s rumor making her feel this way. She hopes it’s Allison’s rumor. 

“We just gotta wait for him to wake up.” 

 

****

Klaus wakes up. And he feels too fucking much. 

His eyes are still closed, but he can pinpoint who exactly is around him, both living and dead. 

There isn’t many dead around, thank Jesus for small mercies, Ben is a soothing cool presence at his side. A direct contrast to the chaotic energy the other dead produce.

Vanya at his head, her… soul? Presence? Feels oddly muted and calm, there is a physical sensation too of her fingers running through his hair, and usually, he would marvel at the sensation, but it too, feels faint. It is odd, the disconnect from the physical. 

He can  _ feel  _ the others though, Luther feels agitated his soul too big, too bright, too messy. 

Diego’s and Eudora’s are side by side, one gleeful the other worried, both bright, both  _ good.  _

And finally Allison, resolute and jittery, energy fluctuating between reaching out to Luther’s and remaining encased in her physical body. 

There is too much, too much sensations surrounding him and he can’t-  He can’t keep up- 

He needs  _ something,  _ anything to dull the world once more, anything to make the brightness in his mind fade away. 

He lets out a whimper, he digs the heels of his hands into his eyes, pressing hard as if that would somehow make his mind calm down, It does nothing, the sensations have nothing to do with the physical. 

“Klaus?” and that’s Vanya, why is Vanya here? The question hits him out of nowhere. 

And just like that, he remembers- 

The sharp bite of the cuffs around his hands, the clinical tone, the  _ experiments.  _ The overwhelming urge to  _ hurt  _ Reginald, to make him  _ go away.  _ The blank eyes of a body missing its soul. 

He Killed Reginald. 

He shoots up, eyes open and fucking terrified, what the fuck did he do?

He looks around at his siblings and Eudora and he knows this place- this is Diego’s... why- 

“Ben?” He calls out, voice coming out small. 

Ben shifts to better look him in the eye, his hands cold and once more incorporeal clutch his -through his- and says as gently as he can, “Allison and Luther found you, they took you here, they know Reginald is dead.” not that he killed Reginald, Klaus notes. Ben sounds angry but not at him, he’s bristling at the edges and Klaus knows that had Ben been alive, The Horror would have been out ages ago, wrecking merry havoc. 

Klaus shudders. 

“Klaus?” Vanya repeats once more, she moved back on the couch giving him more space, her palms out, calming a spooked kitten. 

 Klaus blinks and for a second it’s hard to make out the physical form, the -soul, energy, fucking whatever it is- is all encompassing, but the more he concentrates the less bright it seems until it is only a faint outline surrounding her. An aura. 

Honestly, if he didn't know any better, he’d think he was on some pretty good drugs. 

 “Are you alright?” She asks, and then grimaces, probably at herself. 

“Vanya!” He says ignoring her question and aiming for cheerful, “Fancy meeting you here!” he wills his mouth to form a familiar grin, but if the way her eyebrows draw in worry, he isn’t very successful. 

“What happened, Klaus?” She asks again, projecting calm, it is strange, her soul is so- subdued, it struggles to reach out, his eyes get unfocused as he studies the way the energy is trying so hard to reach out, to touch Klaus’s own, It’s  _ fascinating.  _

Someone snaps their fingers in front of him, and Klaus jerks back, startled. 

That’s Diego, he’s moved closer now and is looking at Klaus like checking him for signs of head trauma. 

Ha! Jokes on you brother, this crazy is all natural. (is it?)

“Yes, dear?” He says. 

“What happened?” He repeats Vanya’s question. 

Something cold settles heavy in his stomach, and he is too weak to run away, too weak to fight anyone, not that he _ wants _ to fight anyone, but he doesn’t think they’d let him go if they knew what he’d done- at least not Luther. 

But he sneaks a look at Number One who is sitting on the floor head bowed and- defeated. 

He doesn’t feel aggression. Huh, Would you look at that. 

“Nothing happened, dearest.” He says, denial, denial, denial all the way. 

Diego rolls his eyes, “Cut the crap Number Four, That bastard is dead, what happened?”

And maybe it’s the tone, or maybe the question itself, maybe it’s nothing, but suddenly, suddenly Klaus is angry. He is so angry, he’s shaking with it,  with the urge to storm off, to slam doors and break shit. 

He stands up, the blanket falling off, and he’s swaying in place, vision darkening, but he doesn’t care he doesn’t care because there he is fresh off a bout of torture and the only thing they care about is what the _fuck_ happened to Reginald, so he says and it comes out vicious “ _What_ _happened?_ What _happened_ is that that Bastard kidnapped and tortured me for god knows how long and when I got out, I _Killed_ him.” but I didn’t mean to, he doesn’t add and watches with dark satisfaction as the others seem to flinch. 

Diego leans back, all cockiness seeping out of him, “Shit, Four.” He says. 

But Klaus doesn’t care, he is done caring he’s done  _ nothing  _ wrong, he was saving himself, because  _ no one else would fucking do it.  _

“What are you gonna do about that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eudora in the background: What the fuck did I get myself into. 
> 
> Anyway! what did you guys think?   
> -sevansa


	14. XIV

Eudora is no stranger to dysfunctional families. She’s lucky to have a loving, supportive, one, but she had friends who weren’t so blessed, and if anything Eudora has always been good at listening. She listened to her friends share their woes and offered comfort when she could, she liked helping people in any small way she could. Maybe that is why enrolling in the police academy seemed like such a good idea, making a tangible difference in the lives of those around her, it is beyond anything. 

That being said, It was obvious from the get go that Diego had issues. He never spoke of his family, save for the occasional mention of his mother. He’s never gone to visit her though. He never shared childhood stories or anecdotes, he’s happy to listen to hers but whenever she tries to ask anything about his life, he clamps up. Eventually, Eudora learnt to never probe, to listen if he wants to talk but never push. 

She understands now. 

She’s standing back watching the drama unfold and she is- torn. 

On one hand she wants to dial 911 and just inform the police of what the fuck is happening cause that’s a kidnapping and a torture and if she got this right then there is justifiable homicide as well and she’s not equipped ( none of them is, to be real) to deal with this, but Diego and his siblings are acting as if they’ve never heard of the word police in their life, it’s funny ‘cause Diego is trying to be a police officer. The sheer disregard  of the law going on is horrifying to say the least, but Eudora is not going to be the one to snitch, ‘cause man, this in one fucked up family and she doesn’t think she should involve herself in any of this, not if she wants to keep her relationship with Diego.

It sounds bad, she knows that it sounds bad, her fingers are clutching at her phone and the police is just three taps away and then she and Diego could retire to their bedroom and all the crazy would be out of their lives. 

Diego would never forgive her. 

So she lets go of the phone and stands to watch silent and observant. 

Klaus is yelling at Diego, his voice is hoarse and pained and Eudora really feels for him, this can’t be easy on him and  _ fuck,  _ she doesn’t know what she should be doing, if she should stop him, or help him or insist on them calming the fuck down.

But their dad is dead, and he’s been torturing their brother, and this is such a horrific scenario, she’s not sure what to do. What is the right thing to do here? She’s blinking back tears, angry and sad and feeling helpless, ‘cause this is way out of her depth and it’s not like she’s close to any of them bar Diego, but she feels for them. 

She feels for Luther who’s all but curled into himself on the floor, she feels for Vanya who is slumped on the couch, looking dazed, She feels for Allison who is (a fucking celebrity) blank-faced and straight-backed, she feels for Klaus who’s been through hell and still is, but above all else, she feels for Diego who is horrified at himself and trying to diffuse the situation, ‘cause this is not how he meant his questions, she knows that, and maybe his siblings would know it too, But Klaus is too compromised to realize. It is looking like it might end up in a fight  Klaus doesn’t feel like the violent type but in this second it looks like he wouldn’t mind throwing some punches, she’s not worried though, Diego could hold his own, and Klaus looks like a stiff breeze could knock him over, but the man is furious and it shows in the way the muscles in his neck are standing out, his fists are clenched and the blue that is slowly surrounding him. 

What the fuck.

Klaus just admitted to murder, he admiited to murder and she should really call the police but she is not going to. 

They are facing each other, tense and wired and if that scene isn’t strange enough then what happens next is enough to make her call an exorcist, never mind the police. 

Diego stumbles back, hand coming up to cradle his cheek, he’s wide-eyed and shocked. the blue is solidifying into the shape of a human, the spirit? Has its fists clenched and it is saying something the sound faint and airy “-on’t touch him!”

Eudora lets out a ragged gasp, one that is echoed across the room, this is not what she signed up for. 

Fuck.

  
  


“Ben?” Diego gets out, he’s blinking sounding dazed. 

“Stay the fuck away from him!” Ben is saying sounding furious and more angry than any of them had ever seen him. 

He’s transparent, that’s the first thought that sticks in Diego’s head. He‘s transparent and angry and somewhat blue looking and  _ here. _

“Ben?” he repeats again, this time walking closer and Ben falters, now realizing that Diego is talking to him. He lets his hands unclench and steps back until he’s side to side with Klaus who is swaying on his feet, Klaus clutches at Ben’s arm, desperate. 

“You can see me?” He says and it is wondering. 

The others are coming closer now, but Diego doesn’t look around, he knows that they are as fascinated as him, but this- this is too much, there are so many things happening at once and too many contrasting emotions its making his head ache. 

“How-” and that’s Vanya,  she reaches out, her fingers come into contact with Ben’s transparent arms, she gasps, and tears are streaming down her face, Diego is a couple of seconds away from joining her. 

“How are you-”

“What is-”

“Is this really Ben-” 

“Wha-”

Everyone is talking over the other and Ben himself looks overwhelmed, never mind Klaus who is seconds from falling on his face if it wasn’t for Ben’s support but everyone is talking and no one is giving them a chance to explain and Diego’s head is going to burst- 

Eudora slams her hand on the coffee table, “okay, that’s enough.” she says, her voice firm and incontestable, “everyone, sit down, you need to talk this out like civilized people.” 

“Yes, of course, you’re right,” Allison says sounding dazed, but she plops down on the floor besides Luther, as if to show that ‘yes that’s how you do it, now follow my lead children.’ 

Luther clutches at Allison’s hands he looks pale and Diego would spare the second to be worried if he’s not busy staring as well, he’s believed Klaus when he said that Ben was around, but there is a difference between knowing your dead brother is haunting your other brother and actually seeing it for yourself, there was a small part of him, a tiny, minuscule, part that was always convinced that Klaus didn’t actually have powers, that he was sick in the head or something along those lines but their father was so sure that Klaus could see the dead that they had no choice but to believe him (and how the hell was he so sure in the first place?)  

But this, seeing Ben- It’s…

He’s not sure how to feel about it. 

He sits like falling and the others follow suit, Eudora coming to sit beside him, offering what support she can, he doesn’t deserve her. 

Ben helps Klaus slide down on the couch and flutters around him like a worried mother-hen, checking his eyes and moving his head this way and that. His hands briefly skim over Klaus’s throat, and Klaus flinches back. 

“You really shouldn’t be shouting.” Ben is saying. 

Klaus, who looks sad and small and defeated, cracks a small smile that doesn’t reach his eyes “You’re one to talk, Benny” 

It is so obvious that they’re getting lost in their own little bubble and Diego is loath to interrupt them, but there are so many things going on right now that they need to deal with. 

Klaus’s escape, Reginald’s… death, hell even Klaus’s newfound power and Ben- 

How do you even start this conversation?

“Why- Why did you kill him?” Luther asks, breaking the moment, he doesn’t sound angry anymore, or confrontational, he sounds like he knows the question is stupid but can’t help and ask it anyway. 

There is a collective intake of breath from around the room, and Diego holds his breath ( one, two, three, four- he can do this all day)

 Klaus leans back into his seat as if wishing to disappear, but the anger is out of him, the vicious edge he showed Diego earlier is all but gone, he speaks, voice small and tentative. “I didn’t... mean to.” and the words seem to gain momentum then, ‘cause he speaks and doesn’t stop, not even to take a breath between the words.

“Me an’ Ben we were gonna escape but then he came in and I was so- so freaked out and I touched him and he just- he died.” He says and he looks up eyes wet and pleading, he doesn't mention how long Reginald must have been torturing him, he doesn’t say that the man deserved it, or that he was defending himself, he doesn't say anything that would make them understand. Ben doesn’t add anything more, but he leans closer to Klaus and glares at all of them as if daring anyone to come closer, to say anything that would hurt Klaus. 

And Klaus looks so oddly fragile in this moment, Diego doesn’t think any of them could stomach saying anything that would hurt him. 

Luther nods, taking the words at face value and doesn’t speak, his head lowered and shoulders hunched. He is grieving, maybe the only one who is genuinely torn by this turn of events, and unwittingly, Diego feels sorry for the big guy. 

 “What about Pogo?” Vanya says, and when they all turn to look at her, she shrinks a little but nevertheless goes to say. “Did Pogo Know you were there?” 

Klaus shrugs, his mouth twisting, looking grim. 

“I think he knew.” Luther says, apologetic. 

Klaus closes his eyes and lets out a ragged breathe, a few tears escape and there is nothing to stop the look of betrayal that darkens his face. 

“But he didn’t say anything?” Vanya says, trying to get to a specific point. 

Luther frowns but says, “No, nothing.” and Diego would be angry if he wasn’t so horrified. 

Vanya nods, “The room must have been bugged, how did you get away?” She says and addresses the question to Klaus but Ben is the one who answered. 

“I switched the cameras off.”

“So no one saw what happened to…” and she falters, but they get her nonetheless and Allison seems to be getting where Vanya is trying to point out. “ Pogo said all signs point to a heart attack, but they will be waiting on the coroner's report!” She says.

Vanya nods, “exactly!”   

Exactly what? “Wait what?” Diego says, confused. 

“If there were no cameras, and it looks like a heart attack, then no one can prove that Klaus did anything, it’s one less thing to worry about! No one has to know about this.” Allison says, and to her credit she doesn’t look ashamed or guilty. 

Eudora lets out a pained sound beside him, but says nothing and he knows what must be going through her head, but he’ll be damned if Klaus ended up in jail for something like that.

“He said to come by the academy tomorrow for the funeral. We can figure out where everything stands then, I think we’re overdue for a long conversation.”  

And honestly, Diego is so proud of his sisters, plotting how to get away with murder. 

There is a lull of silence, “...Thanks.” Klaus says, and they all look at him, he’s curled on the couch (still in a hospital gown) and Ben is all but sitting on him, “For not-” and he trails off, frowning at himself, his face is a mess of tear tracks and old, ruined, eyeliner. 

Diego isn’t sure he wants to know how that sentence will end, what did Klaus think they will do to him? Kick him out? Turn him in?  _ Kill him?  _

Diego shudders.

“Just- thanks.” He ends, looking down. Sounding so very unlike himself. 

Diego breathes in, opens his mouth to speak to say that it’s okay, that they will always stick to him that- 

“You did what you had to do, Klaus.” Luther says, but it is pained, grieved. 

Klaus looks up, and smiles. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and we're almost there folks! 2 more chapters plus an epilogue (hopefully) if things go the way they're supposed to, but seeing as this story was supposed to be a one-shot...  
> yeah...  
> -sevansa


	15. XV

Now that Klaus is well and accounted for, It seems like all the energy that’s been driving them those previous days disappeared. 

Diego is exhausted. 

His body is heavy and he feels breathless in a way that he’s never encountered before. There is a low-grade headache throbbing its merry way in his head and he’s just- wrung out. tired. 

Klaus is passed out on the couch, and Ben faded away not soon after, telling them that he’ll still be there, it’s just that he can’t retain a physical form when Klaus is unconscious. (and isn’t that- strange and wonderful and terrible all at once, realizing that Ben  _ never  _ left, that he’s the only one who stuck around Klaus long enough to be reliable)

Diego looks around the cramped living room, and an emotion not unlike fondness fills him to the brim, it is a warm sensation, coursing through his body and filling it with a sense of fullness. he likes it. 

Allison is asleep on Vanya’s shoulder, both of them leaning against the TV-stand, they’ve been whisper talking all night and it was good, hearing them talk, Luther was on Allison’s other side, he’s awake but silent, he hadn’t spoken since those words to Klaus, absolving him of blame. It is obvious that he’s grieved. 

And like, Diego doesn't get it, he’s never held any sort of love for Reginald, the man could burn in hell for he cares, and Diego is a bit of an ass but he’s not bastard enough to rile up his brother over his obvious loss. At least not now. Not when things seem to be the best they’ve ever been between the siblings.  

Eudora shifts beside him, and lets out a soft groan.

“Ow.” she mutters. 

Diego rolls his eyes, “poor thing.” he says the sarcasm dripping from his tongue. 

Eudora scrunches up her nose and pinches his side. “Shut up, my neck hurts.” 

Ouch.

“That’s what you get for sleeping on the floor.”  he says crossly, rubbing at his abused side 

“I didn’t think I was in that stage of my life where I have to watch where i’m sleeping.” yep, she’s whining.

“If you say so… Grandma.” 

“You’re an idiot.”

“Your idiot,” he says, finally smiling and leaning in to place a chaste kiss on her lips. 

Eudora bites his lower lip sharply in reprimand and Diego mutters “ouch.” but it gets lost in their kiss. 

Eudora pulls away and Diego lets out a disappointed sound, “I need to get ready, classes start in an hour, are you coming?” 

Diego’s brows furrow, but he sends a look around the room where all his siblings are either asleep or ignoring their spectacle, “Nah, we need to sort this shit first.” and by shit he means their dad… and Pogo… and the funeral. 

Whatever, it’s all shit anyway. 

Eudora seems to deflate a bit and she sighs, stretching until her joints pop “yeah… do you need me there?” 

It would be… pretty great, to have Eudora with him when he steps foot back into that place, but… 

“No. maybe later you could come meet mom, but this, this we need to do alone.” He finally ends up, apologetic. 

She nods, expecting that answer and with another quick peck she stands up and heads towards the bathroom. 

He’s watching her go and he can’t believe how lucky he is, Eudora is wonderful, he can’t believe how  _ accepting  _ she is.  he’s getting sappy, gross.

“We’re going?” That’s Luther, his voice gravelly with exhaustion. Diego doesn’t startle, he turns around to face his brother and just nods. Luther licks his lips looks around his eyes are trained on Klaus. “Someone should stay here with Klaus.” He says.

Right. They shouldn’t take Klaus with them. It wouldn’t do him any good to return to the place where he was tortured for so long, to face one of the people that betrayed him… and seeing as the last time Diego left Klaus alone here, he’s been Kidnapped- yeah, no, Klaus is not going with them, but he’s not sure who should stay with him either. It is selfish, he knows, but he wants to go, to talk to Pogo to try and  _ understand.  _ He thought -always thought- that Pogo loved them, had their backs, that he’d never do anything to endanger them. Turns out, it’s not true. 

“Jemma and Lu.” Vanya pipes out softly from Allison’s other side. 

“What?” 

“Jemma and Lu, they wanted to visit Klaus anyway, and I think he’d like to have friends around.” She says and it is somewhat defensive, like she’s used to justifying her answers. 

“Yeah that’s smart.” Diego says, positive reinforcement, he thinks. 

Vanya sends him a small smile, pleased and relieved in equal measure. 

  
  


A couple of hours pass before they’re all ready to depart, only Jemma made it, but she assured them that Lu would come the second her shift was up, and feeling remarkably like a parent who’s leaving his child with the babysitter, Diego thanks her. 

Jemma sends him a scathing look. “I’m not doing you a favour.” idiot, goes unsaid, she slips into the apartment and Diego just stands there for a second before shaking his head and going down the stairs to wait in the car, until the others come out. 

The drive to the academy is uneventful but tense. All of them lost in their own heads and unwilling to break the silence. When they arrive, He almost breathes a sigh of relief.

  
  
  


They ring the doorbell. 

It never occurred to him before how strange it is that none of them had the keys to this place, wasn’t this supposed to be their home? 

Luther can understand his siblings not getting one, but what about him? He’s the one who  _ stayed,  _ why doesn’t he have a key?

He tries to rid himself of that train of thought, and the bitterness it conjures.

And the doubt … so much doubt.

Not so surprisingly, It’s Pogo who opens the door. He blinks at all of them, standing together on the steps, and closes his eyes, sighing, apparently, he figured that something was going on. 

“It’s good to see you all. Come in.” He says and without waiting for them to answer or follow, he makes his way towards the sitting room. 

Obviously, the follow. 

It is an odd feeling being in the academy and knowing that their father is not around the corner, that he’s never going to see the man again. Luther’s stomach is a roiling mess of emotions, he feels sick to think of it, he’s angry, that’s for sure, but he doesn’t know who he’s angry  _ at,  _ what is he angry about? 

The easy thing would be to not think about it, if he throws the whole mess to the back of his mind, he feels better, vacant, but better. 

He’s been doing that lots lately. 

“The coroner's report arrived, your father passed away from natural causes, there is no signs of foul-play.” He starts, voice pragmatic and to the point, delivering facts. 

Luther shares a look with Allison, her eyebrows are raised. If Klaus can kill without leaving a single trace… that’s a dangerous power, then again, they’re all dangerous in their own right. 

“Well- that’s good I guess, that means he died peacefully.” Allison says, smiling and looking so sincere and sad, the very picture of a child grieving a parent, that if Luther wasn’t right there when they decided to shield Klaus, he would have believed her act. 

Pogo’s face isn’t meant to show lots of emotions, but there is a palpable air of disbelief. He knows. He knows that they know, and they know that he knows, but no one says anything.

“Indeed, Miss Allison, it is fortunate.”

Allison smiles so sweetly back. With Klaus's innocence firmly stated and acknowledged, she ventures “Now, would you please tell us what the hell was going on here?” She says, tone still as sweet and mild as before. 

“Ah. you know.” He says and if he doesn’t sound surprised well… It is sort of obvious.

“Yes. we know. What was he thinking.” Allison asks.

“You father is… a complicated man.” Pogo says, aiming for apologetic.

“Cut the bullshit Pogo, he literally tortured Klaus for no reason.” Diego interrupts, angry .

“You father.” and he stresses that point as if they forgot who he’s talking about. “Was convinced that one of you, would bring about the end of the world.” 

What the hell?

There are cries of disbelieve from all around the room “What the hell does that mean?” Diego asks.

Pogo sighs, a tired sound, and sits down on one of the chairs, he rubs at his temples with one hand and then starts talking again. “He never told me why, Reginald never explains what he does. He was so convinced that the end of the world would be one of your doing, so he took you in, trained you- and when someone proved to be untrainable- he… employed other methods.” He says eyes flitting to Vanya briefly before falling back to Luther. 

“Employed other methods, what does that mean?” Allison asks, a strange note in her voice.

“You remember, Miss Allison.”

Allison breathes in sharply. “That was real- I didn’t think-”

“Allison?” Luther asks, one hand over her arm, worried. 

Pogo looks sympathetic. “I’m so sorry.”

“What is he talking about, Allison ?” Diego asks, confused.

“We were kids, I didn’t know, Vanya I’m sorry, I swear I didn’t mean to-”

“Deep breaths, Allison, you’re not making any sense.” Luther says, and he is worried now.

Allison closes her eyes, and breathes deeply for a couple of seconds. She stands up and walks to Vanya, taking her sisters hands she gave them a squeeze. “When we were Kids, Dad, he asked me to rumor you.” 

Vanya’s eyes are wide and they look terrified. Luther himself is frozen in his seat, a terrible suspicion forming in his mind, but no, Dad would never do that , he’d never- 

“What are you saying?” Vanya asks, her voice trembling and wet. 

“I rumored you into forgetting you had powers.” Allison says, no apologies, no excuses. “I rumored all of you.” She says and her voice breaks in the end.

Vanya blinks fast, but that doesn’t stop some tears from escaping, she pulls her hands away from Allison’s grip and says “I need- I need to go.” She rasps out and hurries away, no one speaks for a second, Allison is slumped where she stands, back to all of them.

Diego lets out a strangled scream and hurries out after Vanya, but not before throwing a glare at Pogo. 

Luther feels as if he’s previously been held by strings and now the strings are cut, he’s slumped into his seat feeling so damn weak and just- defeated. 

But he needs to know, “What does that have to do with Klaus?” He asks, keeping his voice steady. Allison straightens up, discreetly rubbing at her eyes. 

“When Master Klaus developed those new powers, your father needed new data, I assume he wasn’t sure how those new powers played into the end of the world scenario he envisioned. I suppose he wanted to find out the extent of his powers, however, these are all speculations, Whatever was going through your father’s head, he never explained it to me.”

So the mystery is lost with the dead. 

Luther closes his eyes. What the hell was going through their Dad’s head? He… locked Vanya’s powers somehow, he studied (tortured) Klaus like a lab experiment, he was basically what? Keeping watch over the time-bombs? Making sure he diffused them before they got dangerous? If he believed them to be so dangerous why didn’t he get rid of all of them? (and who’s to say he didn’t? A traitorous voice whispers in the back of his mind. Ben and Five were both gone, what if- No, he is not going to think about that.) 

What was going  _ on  _ here?

“And you what? Stood by and let it happen?” Allison says, accusingly. 

And Luther is stung, because  _ he  _ stood by and let it happen too.

Pogo closes his eyes, and when opens them, he looks  _ old.  _ “I owe everything to your father, my very existence. I would not go against his wishes. It shames me that I have not helped Master Klaus, but there was nothing I could have done.”

Luther tries to breathe through that, he tries to understand but- 

“I am very sorry.” Pogo says. But not sorry enough to help any of them, if their Dad didn’t approve. 

“Okay. Okay.” compartmentalize, he’s good at that. First things first. “How are you stopping Vanya’s powers?” He asks, trying to be the leader, Number One who takes charge of any situation and getting the rest of the team through it. 

Pogo answers, because why won’t he?

“Pills, Miss Vanya thinks they are for her anxiety, but they dampen her powers.” 

“So if she stopped taking them, her powers would come back?” 

Pogo hesitates for a second.”I assume so, yes. But Master Luther, I do not think this is wise, Miss Vanya’s powers are volatile, she is untrainable.”

“And you decided that when we were what? five ? Seven?” Allison asks. 

“Miss Allison, your father did what he thought is best for humanity.” He says as if that excuses everything.

 “He used me. He used me to hurt Vanya.” She says sounding choked.

“I’m sorry, Miss Allison.” He says. And there is nothing else to be said here. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, the new semester is starting out in two weeks? and I am not ready to go back to uni OTL plus I found out that I have classes in three different hospitals in three different parts of the city and that's yeah- bit too much. like, I like that i'll be busy, but I don't like the commute, here's to hoping it's at least fun XD   
> That being said, I'm really hoping to finish this fic before the semester starts :/  
> Anyway! what did you think?


	16. XVI

Diego is not good at feelings. 

He is not good at many things, but mostly, feelings. 

But Vanya is racing out of the room and no one looks like they’re going to follow, and Diego will be damned if the little progress their family’s been making is ruined because of their bastard of a father (who is dead and should not be ruining any more shit, but what do you know, even in death, Reginald is a crafty bastard)

Vanya is in her bedroom, the door is sitting wide-open so he simply knocks on the frame and walks in. 

“Vanya-”

“I don’t think I ever noticed how small this room is.” She says and she sounds distant.

Diego looks around, the room is clean and untouched, nothing changed in it. Mom keeps the house pristine.

But yes, it is a tiny room, almost the size of a closet, nothing like his own, which is spacious and comfortable, the thought makes him uncomfortable enough that he doesn’t address it. 

Vanya’s still not looking at him she’s standing in the middle of the room, staring at her bed.

“All this time-” She stops again. 

She lets out a shuddering breath.

Diego licks his lips and moves closer, he puts one hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently., she doesn’t push him off. 

“I’m sorry.” He says, unsure what else is there to be said. 

“It’s not...your fault.” She says and it is still unsettling, something about the way she’s talking is making him nervous. 

“You know, you asked me what the book I was writing was about.” She states abruptly. 

Diego frowns, thrown by the change in conversation.

“Yeah?”

“It was gonna be a tell-all book about my-  _ our... _ lives. I was so- so angry at all of you, I  _ hated  _ all of you, at least that’s what I thought I felt, turns out, even the only thing I was sure of, wasn’t real. I was going to blow all the family secrets out, and I wouldn’t have cared less, ‘cause maybe the book would have hurt you the way I was hurt. All of that, because I was  _ ordinary”  _ She spits the word out as if it’s a cuss “I thought that if only I had powers like the rest of you, I would have had a better life, father would have treated me better, we would have been closer, but- those last few days, I think they were the worst wake-up call I’ve had in awhile, powers- no powers nothing would have changed.” She ends with a sigh, she sits like falling on the bed and It squeaks in protest.

Diego rubs at his face, suddenly exhausted, he’s trying not to imagine what a book like she’s talking about would have done to them, it hurts a bit, feels a bit like betrayal and he swallows his first urge to rage- It didn’t happen, there is no reason to think about what could have beens.

“Reginald is a bastard.” He simply states. As if that is explanation enough.

It kind of is. 

And Vanya-

She laughs. 

Loud and sort of hysterical, Diego smiles in reflex looking at his little sister only for the smile to fade away just as quickly when he realizes her laughs are turning into heart-wrenching sobs.

Fuck.

“Um- Vanya, don’t cry?” He says, so out of his depth it’s hilarious. 

Vanya lets out a giggle between her sobs and Diego braces himself and drags his sister into a side hug, He’s tense and in turn Vanya too is tense, they never hug, they’re not a touchy-feely family, lest of all him, but-

Eudora would literally kill him if he’d done nothing to comfort his sister (and that’s the only reason he’s doing this, really, no other reason, believe him)

 Vanya relaxes in his hold and she turns to hide her face better in his shirt, he’s not sure how long they spent like that, but it was long enough that she’s calmed down. 

“I’m not ordinary.” She says, her voice low, almost a revelation.

“You never were, Vanya.” 

And funny how it took him up to twenty years to realize that

***

Pogo is listing everything he knows about Vanya’s training, about  _ all  _ their training, everything Dad did to them and for them and in preparation  _ against  _ them. 

He looks tired and small in his seat, defeated. 

Allison would feel for him, she really would, but she can’t get over the fact that apparently Pogo didn’t care for them the way they cared for him, He was always there, in all parts of her childhood, helping them, extending a kind word, patching them up, him and mom, always there, always helping, always  _ good.  _

She’s not sure what to think. 

They- he- Lied to them for so long, they had contingency plans  _ against  _ them! What kind of parent does that, She knew Reginald regarded them as soldiers more than children, she knew and she made her peace with it a long time ago, But to find out that Pogo- 

It’s not that he thought them soldiers, It’s just that he didn’t interfere when they needed him most. 

She knows she’s being uncharitable, what  _ could  _ he possibly have done? He’s an ape. 

 She should be tuning in,listening, there are valuable information in here, things that will help them, but her mind is whirling and she feels dirty, she never felt dirty using her powers before, It is not a… good feeling. 

Diego and Vanya are coming down the stairs and Allison is distracted looking at them, Vanya’s eyes are red, her face splotchy, Allison feels the guilt lancing through her gut and she drops her eyes to her hands, her nail polish is chipping, she needs to get them redone. 

The others fall silent when they notice. 

“Miss Vanya-” Pogo starts his tone apologetic. 

“Let’s just- get this over with.” She says, interrupting and Allison is proud, it’s nice to see her sister growing some backbone 

Pogo closes his eyes, before nodding.

“And Pogo,” She adds, “I want everything, everything he wrote about me and about- everyone.” She says, the shake in her voice is almost unnoticeable. 

“Of course, Miss Vanya.” He says. 

Vanya moves across the room until she’s beside Allison, Allison holds her breath, feeling stiff and tight and she needs to apologize, anything to make this horrid feeling go away, but Vanya slips her hand into Allison’s and gives her a tight squeeze, Allison’s head snaps up, their eyes meet and Vanya- She’s not angry. 

Allison breathes out, the relief making her weak kneed, she grins, a blinding one fit for the billboards, and Vanya smiles back. 

  
  
  


The funeral is… anticlimactic, to say the least.

None of them are feeling very filial, but they stand the politely required ten minutes of silence surrounding the pile of ash that was once their dad, and she should be feeling sad. if anything, the only thing she feels though is relief, relief that Vanya doesn’t hate her, that things are looking up, relief that her siblings are safe-

Diego disappears halfway through the ‘funeral’ and it takes a second to realize that mom isn’t there as well, and if all of them dally outside for a while to give them space, no one’s saying anything. 

It is a very subdued group that makes it back to the foyer, putting on their coats and preparing to leave, all of them lost in their own thoughts, they all had a difficult relationship with Dad, and it’s only natural that the recent events are bringing them to the surface, it is expected.

What is not expected, however, is the heavy frantic knocking on their front door. 

Allison stops, blinking in confusion, her first thought is that it’s Klaus, but no, she doesn’t think Klaus would willingly set foot in the academy anytime soon. 

She stalks forward and pulls the door open, unsure what to expect- whatever she expected, it was not this.

“Five?” She whispers out.

“Who the hell are you?”

  
  
  


Klaus is feeling antsy, he’s clean, thanks to dear-daddy, but there is still the lingering urge to get doped up on just about anything, and he would, if it wasn’t for the lingering suspicion that Ben wouldn’t be able to manifest if he’s high, He’s not sure if it’s true, but that’s the only reason he could think of on why the sudden change in the things Ben can and can’t do.

He’s just counting himself lucky that Diego’s place seems to be a ghost free zone, to be honest. 

“Are you listening, Healer?” Jemma jabs him in the side waving a slice of pizza in front of his face. 

“Ow” He grumbles out, “‘m listening.” But he’s not, He’s staring at the aura surrounding her and wondering if the colors have a definite meaning, his head is not on straight yet and he can’t wait until he’s feeling like himself again. 

His siblings are away, presumably at the academy, he could ask Jemma but he doesn’t feel like it.

Jemma frowns at him and thrusts a slice of pizza at his face, “Eat, you’re a walking skeleton.” She growls out at him, aww how cute. 

“Baby, you’re just jealous you’ll never look like me.” He says, chowing down on the cheesy goodness. God, he missed real food. 

“What? Like a twink?”  

Klaus almost chokes on his pizza, and there is laughter beside him, Ben is hitting his back uselessly, seeing as he’s still incorporeal, the bastard. 

“Woah, healer, don’t die on me.” She says,monotone, not sounding worried in the least.

Klaus coughs, and sends her a watery-glare, she shrugs unrepentant. “You’re such a bitch.” He says, but fondly.

She shrugs as if to say what, it’s true. 

He glares at her, thing is, he can’t really disprove it. “Whatever. I’m telling Lu you’re being mean.” He says, half joking and takes another bite. 

“You do that, squirt.” She says rolling her eyes and stretching down on the sofa, kicking her feet on his lap. 

Ben leans against him, cold and faintly solid, and Klaus- He feels good, for the first time in a really long while, he feels good, secure. 

The TV is on, playing an episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, there is an almost full pizza box in front of him and he’s surrounded by people he trusts, life is good. 

He hears the keys in the door and stiffness slightly before reminding himself that nothing could get him here, Reginald is dead and anyway if someone wanted to harm him, they wouldn’t be coming from the front door that could be seen from everywhere in the tiny apartment. 

“It’s okay.” Ben says and Klaus consciously relaxes his shoulders. 

The door opens and in comes his siblings, they look agitated, their auras shaky. 

Klaus expected something like that, It couldn’t have been easy, being back at the academy, but the air is charged and for a second Klaus wonders if a fight broke out, he hopes not. 

But then the other file into the room and there holding Vanya’s hand is-

“Holy fuck, is anyone seeing the baby Five in the room?” Klaus blurts out, back ramrod straight and eyes wide, the slice of pizza falls on the floor.

Shit, he hallucinating, He must be- he’s-

“Yeah- about that-” Diego starts, then stops. 

“Actually, I have no idea either.” He says and turns his attention to Baby Five who is looking around the room in interest, before landing on Klaus. 

“Wow, you guys are old.” He says.

What the actual fuck?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was not the plan. This was not the plan. This was supposed to be the last chapter before the epilogue. i'm supposed to be wrapping this fic up, why can't I wrap it up OTL   
> Five was not supposed to show up yet, but well I hope you guys were surprised like I was XD   
> sigh- anyway, what did you guys think?  
> -sevansa


	17. XVII

 

Klaus is used to weird shit happening in his life. Hell, his whole life is one weird shitty situation after the next,  he’s not complaining per se, but man, there gotta be a limit to how much weirdness a person is supposed to endure, ‘cause he’s pretty sure he only has room for one more weirdass event before a complete mental breakdown becomes imminent. 

Truth be told, a breakdown sounds about good right now, something about a decent cry session sounds about heavenly. 

This has been a terrible week. 

Terrible year even. 

Cause there is Five, baby,  _ alive,  _ Five, looking ragged in all the wrong ways and so fucking young, looking around the apartment a complicated look on his face and-

Nope.

Klaus stands up, staggering slightly as all the blood rushed out of his head, his vision blackening for a second,  but he blinks away the feeling and staggers his way towards the kitchenette.

“Klaus?” Ben is following him, floaty and incorporeal. 

Klaus doesn’t answer but he’s rummaging through the cabinets and wow, Diego’s really gotta stock up, his cabinets are downright depressing. He goes through the whole thing twice, trying to ignore the muttering coming from behind him, he needs a drink. 

Screw sobriety, he is not made to handle all this concentrated amount of shit in this short amount of time, that stuff gotta be given in small doses, he’s not sure how his siblings are still capable of dealing with what’s happening but Klaus’s has always been the weak one and he doesn’t mind, he’s tired and he needs a drink. 

And he would follow through with that mental thought if he could find a single drop of anything alcoholic in this damn house. 

At the third pass, Klaus has to admit defeat, he whirls around and calls out, “Diego, where the fuck do you people keep your alcohol?” 

Diego looks up from where he’s kinda slumped into the couch looking dazed and blinks, seemingly regaining hold of his mental facilities. “We don’t keep alcohol in the apartment.” He says, shrugging.

What the fuck? Who doesn’t keep booze in their place, He exchanges an incredulous look with Ben, “What? Not even beer?” 

Diego, that bastard, looks amused, “Not, even beer.” He confirms.

“Wow, you guys are sick.”Klaus says, only half-joking.

“You’re body is a temple, Bro, treat it as such.” He says all haughty superiority. 

Klaus mimes gagging.

He needs a drink. 

He lets out a loud groan and slides down to the floor.

“Too much?” 

He didn’t even notice Jemma coming up in front of him. 

Klaus shrugs and tugs at his hair. 

“Wanna blow this joint?” She asks, uncharacteristically gentle. 

For a second, Klaus is tempted. He could stay with Jemma and Lu for a couple of days and not deal with the shitshow that is his family right now, he owes his family, he knows that, they tried to help, they really did, but as much as Klaus likes the direction this new improved family is heading to, he’s not sure he’s ready to deal with all this yet, the whole torture/killing/sobriety thing is not a good combo and Klaus would kill (or not, that idiom lost its appeal after actually killing a person) for a break. 

But-

Everyone is doing a good job of giving him space, even Tiny, Baby, Five, and it would be- 

It would be super shitty of him to just up and leave them to deal with this shit, not when they didn’t leave him to deal with his shit alone. 

Fuck, He misses when his conscience was dead. 

“-should stay here.” He mumbles, petulant and childish. 

Jemma rolls her eyes at him, but she does it fondly so, Klaus isn’t offended. She nudges him with the toe of her boot, “well, stop being a pussy and go join your family, I need to get going,” Klaus closes his eyes “call me if you need anything.” She adds, no nonsense. 

“Yessir.” Klaus mock-saluts and Jemma quirks a smile. 

She quickly calls out her goodbye to the others, and heads out, but not before miming call me at Klaus. “Take care.” She says. 

And he’s alone. Or not.

He stands like staggering and moves until he can plop himself back on the couch, He makes a conscious effort to be present in the moment, there is Five, helping himself to the remnant of the pizza and sitting cross legged on the coffee table, and looking as young and alive as he did nine years ago. 

Klaus looks around “okay, run it by me, did daddy dearest somehow clone baby-Five? Did you find him in another secret dungeon in the academy, what the hell happened there?” He asked, trying to keep the forced levity in his tone. 

Five, who had a pizza halfway to his mouth sent him a strange look “What? No, why would father keep me in a dungeon?” He says sounding genuinely confused.

Ah, the innocence of youth. 

Klaus grimaces.

Yeah they’re not going there today.

 "You know what baby Five, that's not important, why don't you tell us what happened to you, how did you end up- uh... now?" He asks quickly changing the topic into something that is actually an issue and has nothing to do with the lovely vacation he took in their dad's murder dungeon. 

Five glares at him, and that right there is such a familiar look that Klaus finds himself relaxing on reflex. 

"I made a jump into the future," he says sounding proud of himself, "well, more into the future than this, I knew I could do it, even if father didn't believe me, but I... miscalculated." He shrugs, biting into his slice of pizza. 

"Miscalculated how?" That's Vanya, looking in terrible need of sleep, and not sounding much better. 

Sheesh Klaus really ought to ask what went down at the academy. 

"I jumped too far and I couldn't figure how to get back for… ages, it took a while, small jumps back in time, but travelling backward in time is much more complicated than jumping forward and the fact that this is the first time you guys have seen me, means that this is the furthest back I  _ can _ jump,” He devolves into muttering to himself, things that Klaus doesn’t catch and honestly, it wouldn’t make a lick of difference if he did, Five was always a bit too smart for his own good, he doubts that changed any.

“How many years has it been?" He asks suddenly, head coming up and looking around like he's not concerned at all about the fact that he basically time traveled, Klaus doesn't think  _ he _ 'd be too blase about that. 

Sometimes he envies Five his mind, everything must be so simple up there in his little demonic head. 

“N- nine years, you were gone for nine years.” vanya says, her voice shaking.

Five, either not catching that or ignoring it, nods, “Huh, not too bad of a margain really, could have ended up with you guys as toddlers. Where is Father, I gotta tell him that my theory worked.”  He changes the subject as if that’s it, case closed. 

And Klaus would be too baffled by the admittedly disturbing workings of baby Five’s head if he wasn’t frozen in place with a horrific mix of guiltreliefpleasurepain 

“Aw, shit.” someone mutters, but Klaus is too busy trying not to pass out to care.

  
  
  


They are not sleeping, but they are scattered around the living room, and there is a palpable air of exhaustion around, no one is taking and if they are, It is done in whispers. 

Klaus’s brief panic attack left him drained and unwilling to speak.

They’d just finished detailing everything to little Five and while Five doesn’t seem too torn up about Reginald’s death, he is understandably upset, if only due to the destabilizing effect this is going to have on his life (who is he kidding the kid has been lost in the future, surviving god knows how, for how the fuck long, there is no stability in Five’s life. None whatsoever, despite what Allison is trying to tell herself.)

“Everything is going to be alright.” Ben says from where he’s squished up to klaus’s side, he’s in the inbetween state where he’s not solid but is not ghost either, so the weight of him pressing to his side is comforting. 

“When did you become such an optimist?” Klaus mutters.

Ben shrugs, shoulders going up in a careless motion. “Things will be okay.” He repeats “Look at them, we’re not alone anymore.” 

Alone. 

They’ve been alone for so long, no one to care for them, no one to help them...

Klaus blinks away the sudden wetness in his eyes, but he does look at them. 

He looks at the way Diego is sandwiched between Allison and Vanya, both of them having a hushed conversation and Diego looking decidedly uncomfortable in the middle, He looks at the way he squirms but he doesn’t push either girl away. 

He looks at the way Luther is sitting, a deep thoughtful look on his face, he’s quiet and somewhat menacing, but with Five slumped on his shoulder, young and innocent, it’s hard to think of  him as anything close to dangerous. 

He looks at the way Vanya is running her fingers through the kid’s hair and looking wistful, but in no way scared or uncomfortable.

He looks and looks and commits the picture to memory. 

They are here because of him.

Somehow,  _ he  _ was the catalyst that brought them all together.  

Him. 

Klaus Hargreeves, Failure, druggie, Number Four. 

Useless, waste of space. 

But they don’t think so.

None of them do, besides, he’s not useless anymore is he? Jemma’s been telling him about how almost everyone in their circle was keeping an eye out for him,  the people missed him, his existence matters to them, and yes, maybe it is because of his healing, but he likes to think that it is also because they cared about him as a person. 

He made a place for himself in that community and he’s comfortable with it comfortable with how he fits there, how he’s vital. He’s needed.

He likes the way things are going with his siblings right now, he wouldn’t mind if things kept on improving, but even without them, he’s not alone. 

He’s fiercely proud of how far he’s come, and if the soft look on Ben’s face is any indication, then the ghost too, is proud of him. 

“Yeah, yeah, we’re not.” He says, snuggling deeper into the couch, sending one last look at his family, Klaus closes his eyes and goes to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay. I am very, very, sorry for the late chapter, but I couldn't get myself to write, I wasn't in the mood to write anything, but I got off my butt and here it is. It is shorter than usual, sorry 'bout that, but we are just about done. I know that there are many things that still needs to be addressed, there will be one final chapter, an epilogue, that will tie up the loose ends and hopefully, maybe, soon, there will be a sequel, part 2 of the series that will deal with Five, and the whole Klaus aftermath.  
> That being said, thank you guys so much, you are as always brilliant and honestly I can't believe the amount of support this fic has gotten. love you all.  
> -sevansa


	18. XVIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOT DEAD!

Five lied. 

He told them that this is the furthest back he could travel.

He lied.

With the right incentive, with the right calculations he could send himself back into the very day he’d disappeared. 

He can very well do it, He is unsure why the thought is making him uneasy. 

The moment he dropped in front of the academy, he was gearing up for another backward jump, he was (mostly) fed and not as exhausted as he could have been, he would have jumped too, but-

The lights were on in the academy. 

The lights were on for the first time since he started jumping back and he just had to- he had to-

Five lets out a frustrated breath and squirms on Vanya’s sofa, trying to make himself comfortable.

He squeezes his eyes shut and wills sleep to take him. His brain is buzzing and he would greatly benefit from sleep.

He can’t sleep though, he’s exhausted, his bones are aching and his temples are throbbing, his eyes are dry and scratchy and he’d do anything to fall asleep. 

He can’t sleep.

Maybe it’s because he’s too comfortable, which is a vaguely terrifying thought, one that he doesn’t want to dwell on too much, instead he wills himself to think of anything else, like his siblings and how different and utterly not they are right now. 

Klaus is still very reliably Klaus, except that he seems somewhat calmer now? Maybe he finally mellowed out with age after all, figures.

Luther is -larger- and quieter, Allison seems to be less self-absorbed, Diego seems mellower, and Vanya is still Vanya. 

Five is aware that something odd is going on, and he’s not ashamed to say that he caught almost none of the subtext, he was tired and hungry and there was pizza, sue him. 

What he is sure of, is that Father is dead. 

 

He’s… unsure how to feel about that,It would be callous to say that he doesn’t really care. There is disbelieve, He never thought dad would ever die, and it feels a bit unreal, but- 

He knows he will feel Reginald’s absence.

He already felt it intensely on those last couple of months of time-travel limbo, if only because Reginald kept their lives so tightly scheduled that the sudden absence of rules and expectations was jarring.

But will he miss the man? No. He doesn’t think he ever loved him in the first place. He never thought parents are supposed to be loved, he thought that was something that popular media invented.

He should jump back, one more jump and he will be in the right time and then maybe he could stop Reginald from dying.

Does he want to stop Reginald from dying ?

Or does he want to stay in this Time? 

What if he jumped back once more and he got stuck?

The Now is not too bad.

Five doesn’t give up. And staying here, feels like giving up.

But-

He doesn’t think he wants to time-travel again, at least not for a while.

The time travel feels like a fever-dream, weird and strange and terrifying, but most importantly, not real.

This Time though...

He only has to get up and take a peek inside Vanya’s room to be reminded that, nope, it’s undeniably real.

This point in the future is not too bad, He thinks to himself, watching the play of the light from outside on the ceiling.

Maybe it’s better to stay here.

Maybe-

Five sits up, disgruntled. There is no sleep to be had tonight. 

He feels restless, with a put upon sigh, he gets off the (uncomfortably comfortable) couch and heads to the tiny kitchen, might as well find something to snack  on for the rest of the night.

His rummaging through the cupboards must have been a tad too loud because the next thing he knows the kitchen is flooded with light, Five ,carefully, does not startle.

Vanya steps into the Kitchen and blinks blearily at him.

“Can’t sleep?” she says around a yawn.

Five shrugs. 

“Can’t think.” He returns.

“Huh, that’s new. Never thought I’d see the day.” she says, smiling.

Five rolls his eyes and returns to rummaging through the cabinets. 

The silence stretches between them, long and endless.

“What happened to you?” Vanya asks. 

Five, carefully, doesn’t let himself falter. “Nothing happened. I was lost in time and then I came back.”

“That’s not nothing, Five.” She says, almost gently, Vanya walks towards him, and rests her back on the counter where he’s perched. 

“It really, really, is. What is more interesting than what I’ve been up to, is what  _ you’ve _ been up to, heard you got powers now.” He says almost snidely.

Vanya smiles, a quick uncertain thing that disappears as quickly as it had appeared. “Apparently I always had.”

“Huh.” Somehow, that’s not surprising in the least. 

Five drops down from the counter his prize, a half-empty cereal box, in hand. He looks down (at least some things never change) at the stranger that is his sister and says “I miss your music, play me something?” 

Vanya is too nice to call him out on his balant avoidance, she just looks disapproving, but in the end, she acquiesces, and if he spent what’s left of the night in silence listening to Vanya play, well, he’ll call that a win.

There will be time to decide what to do about the time-travel later.

 

**

Diego takes her to meet his mother on a crisp Sunday morning. 

Eudora worried and fretted about it for days while Diego -that bastard- laughed himself sick at her. 

His mother is a  _ Robot. _

Diego had neglected to relate that little tidbit the first time he opened up about his family. When he finally let that piece of information slip, Eudora laughed. 

Only Diego’s hurt expression was enough to make her realize that that was not an elaborate prank and/or a weird metaphor.

No, His mom is an actual real life  _ robot _ . 

Eudora met her lovers’ parents before, she is a fair hand at dealing with beloved family members, she’s not sure however if any of her experience will be of any use when dealing with a robot.

And worse yet, she can’t really talk to Diego about this, she knows that any question out of her mouth would somehow sound offensive and she doesn’t want to offend Diego (or his  _ robot  _ mother) so she sucked it up and tried not to let her imagination get too wild, (will she be at least humanoid shaped? Is she a she? See, that’s why she can’t ask Diego those things, it sounds offensive even in her own mind) 

Now that she’s finally here, she’s fluctuating between nerves, dread and excitement, she’s always been curious about Diego’s family, before that fateful day with Klaus she’d barely known anything about them, it was always a sore spot for him and she didn’t want to dredge up unhappy memories by prodding. 

Now well.. She  _ is  _ an accessory to murder. She’s entitled to a little curiosity.

The academy doors open and out steps a- well- a very beautiful lady who wouldn’t look out of place in a 50s drama. 

Eudora blinks, confused.

“Mom.” Diego says, moving from Eudora’s side and up the stairs.

_ Mom?  _ That’s the robot-mother? Where’s the metal? The flashing lights and the pincers?

The beautiful woman, who doesn’t look much older than her and is apparently Diego’s  _ robot mother,  _ smiles gently at her son and kisses his cheek, “Diego, I’ve missed you.”

Diego smiles back, a soft sweet smile that Eudora isn’t used to seeing outside their apartment.

“I’ve missed you too, mom.” and then he looks back at Eudora and places his mom’s hand in the crook of his elbow and escorts her down the stairs, how sweet.

“Mom, this is Eudora Patch, my girlfriend.” 

Eudora blinks and tries to smile, trying to get her mental image to align with the reality in front of her, she offers a hand for Diego’s mother “Hello, Mrs. Hargreeves, It’s a pleasure to meet you.” she ends up saying, awfully formal.

Mrs. Hargreeves surprises her by pulling her into a surprisingly soft hug.

“Call me Grace, Dear… or Mom, whichever is easier.” She says, surprisingly mischievous for a robot.  

Eudora grins, a blush making its way up her cheeks, she’s not the type to blush easy but something about Grace’s easy affection is making her flustered. “I’ll be sure to do that,” she says. 

Diego is looking at the both of them with a very pleased expression on his face, his eyes are brighter than they’ve been for days, “let’s go? Mom you will love the park-”

 

**

 

“So what are you going to do now?”

“I’m not sure.” Luther says, trailing off into silence as he’s hit with the fact that he’d never actually given any thought as to what to do with his life. “I don’t think I ever thought about what would happen if Dad died.” He says with a self-deprecating shrug. 

Allison’s lips quirk, “it’s not too late to start now.” She says, squeezing his hand in hers.

“What are you going to do?” He asks instead. As if Allison’s answer could magically summon an answer for him as well. 

Allison sighs and throws herself back on Luther’s bed. “I think I’ll take a break from acting, just for a bit-” She adds hastily when she notices his incredulous look “-just until we figure out what to do with Five.” 

Luther lets out a tired breath and  hides his face in his hands. “Everything is kind of a mess isn’t it.”

“Isn’t it always.”

Luther huffs a laugh. 

They are silent for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.

“I don’t think I want to stay in the academy anymore.” Luther whispers out, feeling like the worst kind of traitor for saying that. 

Allison rolls around on the bed till she’s properly facing him again. 

“That’s okay,” She says, her voice soft and serious. “We can look for a place for you, hell we can get us a place together until everything is sorted and i’m ready to go back to LA, It will be like old times again!” She ends with a grin, nudging his thigh with an elbow. 

Allison has a gift for making everything sound so easy, Luther grins back at her and in that moment, he’s not Number One, he’s not dad perfect obedient soldier, he’s not the one who stayed, he’s not the young man who never learned to think for himself. 

No, he is Luther Hargreeves, and he’s lost, but that’s okay, because he’s not alone and he has siblings who will help him figure his place in the world.

 **

 

“Are you ready?”

Ben is silent, he feels- distant. He always feels distant, it’s been a while ( since he’d last been alive) since he felt any particularly strong emotion. Nothing is worth getting emotional over when you’re dead. 

But there he is, standing in the courtyard, (the very same one their father’s ashes rests, he’s been informed) with his siblings all watching and Klaus as sober as he’s ever been in his life and looking uncharacteristically nervous.

Ben is- he’s not excited, but he’s getting there.  

He summons a smile out, one that he doesn’t really feel, but this is the correct response, he knows, he knows that his… life… as it is, is merely a shade of the what could have been, he is the potential of what Ben Hargreeves could have been, had he been alive. He always knew he was different from the other ghosts around, he ages, for one, for two, he’s not the grisly bloody mess that he’s been when he died. 

He thinks it has something to do with Klaus’s power, but for once he doesn’t think about it too much, he doesn’t like to think about his own death (and who would, really?)

So Ben smiles and says “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

He is not excited, He is not happy, but he is peaceful and content and he thinks that what is going to happen is enough to emulate excitement and happiness.

He tries (for Klaus) even when Klaus doesn’t really care, most of the time, Klaus is simply grateful to have someone with him to care if that someone isn’t functioning as well as they should be.

Though things have changed lately, what with people seeking Klaus out for help, it’s rare for Klaus to be alone now, and honestly, Ben was ready for Klaus to pull away from him, he doesn’t  _ need  _ the ghost of his dead brother for comfort anymore. Not when he has his living siblings around, not when he has real friends now. 

But he’s surprised (he really shouldn’t have been) to find out the Klaus clung tighter to him, too tight in fact that it lead them to this point. 

Klaus and Ben in the Academy courtyard, facing each other with Klaus careful not to look at the building for too long. 

Klaus beams at him, bright and alive. He reaches his hands out, touching Ben’s cold skin. 

The touch, like always, is a revelation, the sensation so warm it almost burns, but it makes him feel solid, alive, he welcomes it gladly. 

Klaus rolls his shoulders back, and with eyes wide open, he begins doing whatever it is he does when he’s working his (literal) magic. 

Ben closes his eyes and  _ feels. _

He’s lost in a sudden haze of blue so soothing and bright it’s hard to concentrate on anything else. He is aware of color even with his eyes closed he  _ feels  _ the blue. He is aware of a sensation not unlike being dragged through molasses, (is he being dragged?) it feels like he is but he knows that he’s not moving. The world feels heavier, warmer, there is a sense of compression, of warmth, vivid overwhelming warmth and Ben is unsure how to articulate all the different things going on, it is very possible that he lost the train of thought for a while, he doesn’t remember what was supposed to be happening, but his skin feels! It feels tight around his bones and suddenly he is very aware of the weight of his bones inside his body.

And just like that it’s done.

Ben gasps out, the pressure is gone, his eyes fly open and he is very aware of the arms wrapped around him, Ben takes another gasping breath something is wrong- something is off, he can’t breathe (why would he need to breathe he is dead) but he’s not,  _ he’s not.  _

“-athe with me, Ben, In and out.” He shuts his eyes tight and tries to focus on the voice, because that’s Klaus and he always tries to listen when Klaus talks (even if its stupid,  _ especially _ if it’s stupid) 

There is a hand on his chest, pressing up and down and his chest moves to follow the motion, and just like that, he’s breathing.

_ He is breathing. _

Ben’s eyes fly open and they catch on Klaus’s own green eyes, he looks worried. But Ben beams wide and ecstatic, and this time, he can feel it, he can feel the happiness bubbling up in his chest, he’s almost forgotten how good happiness feels.

“Hi.” He says, grinning and alive.

Klaus seems to choke on nothing, his eyes fill with tears and with his own blinding grin he says “Hi.”

“Holy shit, it worked.” And that’s someone else, Diego probably, and before he knows it, Ben is wrapped up in a pair of skinny arms one that is promptly followed by another set of arms and another and another and another and another. And Ben is laughing, he’s crying with it.

“Thank you, he whispers into Klaus’s skin. “Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooo... I'm not dead? sorry guys for such a long wait, but here it is, the final chapter!   
> I would like to thank every single person who read this far, and supported me throughout, you guys are the best, I love you <3   
> -sevansa

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! it's been a while.  
> so, I kinda just binge-watched the whole UA in a single day, and I have so many feels about these emotionally-stunted idiots, so here you go! hope you guys enjoyed it! don't forget to leave a comment!  
>  sevansa 


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